Black Joan
(1598 ?)
Historical Records
Henslowe Papers
Greg, Papers, 118:
Under Henslowe's title, "The Enventary tacken of all the properties for my Lord Admeralles men, the 10 of Marche 1598" is:
Item, j frame for the heading [i.e. beheading] in Black Jone.
Greg, Papers, 121:
Under Henslowe's title, "A Note of all suche bookes as belong to the Stocke, and such as I have bought since the 3d of March 1598" is:
Blacke Jonne.
Theatrical Provenance
The Admiral’s Company.
Probable Genre(s)
Tragedy (?) (Harbage, 64-5).
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
None known.
References to the Play
None known.
Critical Commentary
H. W. Herrington posits a “dramatic vogue” for witchcraft plays in the late 1590s (478), and, after discussing Mother Redcap, writes:
Earlier in the same year [1597] Henslowe notes a performance of "The Witch of Islington." By the next year had been written "Black Joan." The former was either an out-and-out witch play, or else such a play with political bearings. The latter, in all probability, was a witch play also. If we may judge from the titles and the growing realism of dramatic treatment, they were of a kind far closer to actual life than those hitherto considered. (478)
Purkiss supports Herrington's suggestion of a mini-vogue for witch plays at this time and speculates that the play may have influenced Shakespeare's Joan la Pucelle in 1 Henry VI (197 n.28)
Works Cited
Site created and maintained by Simon Davies, University of Sussex; updated 13 May 2011.