Saul and David
Historical Records
Alleyn's list of theatrical costumes
A single folio leaf, undated but possibly c.1589-91, acquired by the Houghton Library in the early 1970s (as part of a larger MS collection) includes a costed inventory of theatrical costumes, apparently compiled by John Alleyn and at one time in the possession of Edward Alleyn. It was first found in a copy of John Payne Collier's The History of English Dramatic Poetry (1831), which Collier had presented to Joseph Hazlewood the year it was published. Hazlewood had it inserted between pp.88-89 of volume 3. It thereafter passed to Augustus, sixth Lord Vernon, and ultimately to Arthur Freeman before Harvard acquired it (see Evans 254-55).
(Digital image ordered)
f MS Thr 276, Houghton Library, Harvard University; reproduced by permission.
[fol. 1r] includes the following items pertaining explicitly to the lost "Saul and David" play (it is possible that other items on the list also belonged to "Saul and David" or were at least shared by that play and the "Charlemagne" play also listed):
- X Itm saull and dauid. Charlemayn __________________________iiijll
- X Itm a hare & beard for Charlemayn And Saull & dauid ___________xs
Theatrical Provenance
Unknown; Wiggins (#815) suggests the play "may have entered the repertory of a touring company, perhaps one bound for the Continent" (presumably his conjecture rests on the concluding comment, "so the stock oweth me made euen at grauesend" in line 31 -- Gravesend being a possible port (see Evans 266). Evans suggests an association with the Worcester's or Admiral's companies, on the basis of the Alleyn connection (266).
Probable Genre(s)
Biblical.
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
Bible (1 Samuel 16-31)
References to the Play
Information welcome.
Critical Commentary
Evans' suggestion (267) that "Saul and David" may be a prequel of sorts to Peele's David and Bathsheba has not gained scholarly acceptance; it rests on Peele's line about making "a third discourse of David's life" (the implication being that David and Bathsheba is the second discourse, and a first discourse -- "Saul and David" -- preceded it). Wiggins (815) calls the argument "flawed on several grounds", including the fact that an announcement of a sequel (the third discourse) would surely have been made in an epilogue not an interim chorus, and the fact that Peele's play has a tripartite structure (so the reference is an internal one).
For What It's Worth
Other items in Alleyn's list that may or may not be associated with the "Saul and David" play include various cloaks and doublets described only by their colour and material; white and yellow beards; periwigs; a "waggon and waggon cloathe", a "trunck"; and more specifically, "a hermyttes gray gown", a "pasytes [parasite's] sewte for a boy", and "a clownes sewte".
Works Cited
Site created and maintained by David McInnis, University of Melbourne; updated 20 April 2017.