Tis No Deceit to Deceive the Deceiver

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Historical Records

Payments

To playwrights in Philip Henslowe's diary

Fol. 52 (Greg, I.99)

Lente vnto harey Chettell at the Requeste of	}
Robart shawe the 25 of novembʒ in earneste of	} xs
his comodey called tys no deseayt to deseue the	}
desever . . . for mendinge of Roben hood for the corte . . . , ,	}

lent vnto the company the 28 of novembʒ 1598	}
to geue harey cheattell in earneste of hes boocke	} xxs
called tis no desayt to deseaue the deseuer the some	}

Theatrical Provenance

Chettle's play, "'Tis No Deceit to Deceive the Deceiver," was apparently meant to be acquired and staged by the Admiral's men at the Rose in 1598, but the absence of payments in full raise a question about whether the play was completed.

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy? Harbage

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

The proverbial title suggests a double tricking, but no particular anecdote or narrative is also implied.

References to the Play

None known.

Critical Commentary

Malone makes no comment about "'Tis No Deceit to Deceive the Deceiver" (p. 311); Collier muses that "Chettle seems to have had no co-partner," implying that he was more commonly part of a team than a solo dramatist (p. 140, n.1). Fleay, BCED makes no comment on the play (1.#17, p. 68); Greg II suggests that the play "may never have been finished" (#160, p. 199).

Gurr pushes the possibility of an abandoned project a step farther by listing "'Tis No Deceit to Deceive the Deceiver" among plays "initially paid for but probably abandoned later" (p. 105).

Wiggins, Catalogue does not call attention to the partial payments; he characterizes the story as "some fraudster getting a taste of his own crooked medicine" (#1166).

Works Cited

Gurr, Andrew. Shakespeare's Opposites: The Admiral's Company 1594-1625. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson; Last updated by Rlknutson on 29 July 2022 16:29:45