Shakespeare: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd Chapter 56

Pirates May Make Cheape Penyworths of Their Pillage

In the summer of 1597, a theatrical scandal threatened to take away the livelihood of all the players.  In July, the Earl of Pembroke’s Men performed a satirical play called The Isle of Dogs at the Swan.  It lampooned various members of the administration, thus bringing down the wrath of the authorities.  One of the authors and certain players were arrested and imprisoned for three months.  One of the part authors had been a young Ben Jonson, who was twenty-five at the time.  It is difficult to imagine Shakespeare in such unpleasant circumstances, but he would not have dreamed of writing something remotely as seditious or slanderous as The Isle of Dogs.

The Privy Council then demanded that “no plaies used within London…during this tyme of sommer” and furthermore “those playhouses that are erected and built only for suche purposes shal be plucked downe.”  It was one of those announcements that flew in the face of all ban realities and was never properly enforced.  It is possible that the declaration was aimed at the swan since it demanded the destruction of playhouses that were erected “only’ for the performance of plays.  The Justices of Middlesex and Surrey ordered the owners of the Curtain Theatre but again the order was not obeyed.  If the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were still playing here, as seems likely, they could shelter in the shadow of their great patron.

They did decide to go on tour during this time. In August they went down to the fishing port of Rye and they journeyed to Dover and in September they went to Marlborough, Faversham, Bath and Bristol.  There is every reason to believe that Shakespeare was with them during their travels.

The “inhibition’ on plays in London was lifted in October and the Chamberlain’s Men returned to the Curtain.  It may have been in this season that “Curtaine plaudeties” were heard for performances of Romeo and Juliet which was one three plays by Shakespeare published this year in volume form.  In August King Richard II appeared on the bookstalls.  It was such a success that two further edition were published in the succeeding year.  It was followed in October by King Richard III.

There are six editions of Shakespeare’s plays that have been described by some textual as “bad quartos”.  They are significantly shorter than the versions eventually published in the Folio or collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays that was published after his death.  In these quartos lines are paraphrased, characters are omitted, and scenes are placed in a different order from other versions.

There is, of course, no reason to call these shorter plays “bad” quartos; they are simply different.  They do illustrate, however, the somewhat brutal way in which Shakespeare’s texts could be treated.  At the time of the first rehearsal or first performance whole soliloquies could be taken out, lines re-assigned and scenes transposed for the sake of narrative efficiency.  If they were indeed in that fashion, Shakespeare must have concurred in the changes.  His position as an eminently practical and pragmatic man of the theatre once more becomes clear.