Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins, The

Anon. (Richard Tarlton?) (<1591?, >1597?)

Historical Records

A Plot of the second part of The Seven Deadly Sins has survived (Greg, Papers). It surfaced c. 1780 in the collection at Dulwich College. It had many years before been turned into a cover for The Tell-Tale, a manuscript play. The playbook apparently survived with the Plot for some time because the outside cover reads "The Book and Platt, &c." The Plot is undoubtedly the most detailed of those that survive, yet it does not name its company or give its date. As a result, scholars continue to argue its provenance (see below, "Theatrical Provenance", and "Critical Commentary").

Theatrical Provenance

Strange's Players

Until recently (Kathman 2004), the entire theater history community believed that the Plot of 2 Seven Deadly Sins, and thus the play which the Plot plots, belonged to Lord Strange's men. The reasons for this company assignment are given in some detail below (Critical Commentary. Suffice it here to say that the Plot was preserved at Dulwich College, which Edward Alleyn founded and to which he gave a substantial number of documents from his theatrical career. Alleyn, in May 1593, was a member of Strange's players, even though he retained his identification as a servant of the Lord Admiral.

Chamberlain's Players

In 2004, David Kathman re-examined the evidence provided by the names of players in the Plot, and based on fresh biographical evidence he argued that the Plot had belonged to the Chamberlain's players. He challenged Alleyn as the presumed source of the document, attributing its provenance instead to William Cartwright, junior. Based on the casting assignments in the Plot and the probably ages of the players, Kathman assigned the Plot (and its play) to 1597-8, which made its venue one of the Shoreditch houses, either the Theater or Curtain.

Probable Genre(s)

Moral playlets

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Tarlton's play, The Seven Deadly Sins

References to the Play

None known; Harvey and Nashe?

Critical Commentary

Greg
McMillin
Bradley
McMillin and MacLean
Kathman
Tribble
Stern

For What It's Worth

For the fullest picture of the argumentative network concerning The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins, consult also the entries for The Seven Deadly Sins, Three Plays in One, Four Plays in One, Five Plays in One (Queen's, 1585), and Five Plays in One (Admiral's, 1597).

Keep an eye out for the history of Lord Strange's players, forthcoming by Lawrence Manley and Sally-Beth MacLean

Works Cited

Greg, W. W. Dramatic Documents from the Elizabethan Playhouses. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931.

McMillin, Scott. "Building Stories: Greg, Fleay and the plot of 2 Seven Deadly Sins." Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England, 4 (1989): 53-62.

Bradley, David. From Text to Performance in the Elizabethan Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Gurr, Andrew. "The Work of Elizabethan Plotters and 2 The Seven Deadly Sins." Early Theatre 10.1 (2007): 67-87.

McMillin, Scott and Sally-Beth MacLean. The Queen's Men and their Plays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Kathman, David. "Reconsidering The Seven Deadly Sins." Early Theatre, 7/1 (2004): 13-44.

— — —. "The Seven Deadly Sins and Theatrical Apprenticeship." Early Theatre, 14.1 (2011): 129-39.

Tribble, Evelyn B. Cognition in the Globe: Attention and Memory in Shakespeare's Theatre. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Stern, Tiffany. Documents of Performance in Early Modern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita; updated 24 March 2012.