Lightning guide to the comedies
Comedies
A comedy is a play which ends in a wedding.
Note: all Globe DVDs are cheaper from Amazon.
You can also utilise The Globe Player.
The Taming of the Shrew - possibly Shakespeare's earliest play. Lots of debate about that one. 1591 at the latest.
Two sisters - horrible, bad-tempered, rude Kate and lovely, sweet innocent Bianca, both unmarried. Bianca can't marry till someone takes Kate on. Enter Petruccio who marries Kate and turns her into the ideal wife whilst Bianca is finally shown in her true colours.
Best adaptation: Ten Things I Hate About You - 1999
Musical: Kiss Me Kate - 1948 on Broadway/1953 film
Best sequel: The Tamer Tamed - John Fletcher - 1611 for The King's Men.
Globe version. (I love this production.)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona - 1590. Performed at Gray's Inn.
Two couples, Valentine and Sylvia and Proteus and Julia marry at the end of the play after undergoing lost of difficulties including kidnap, women disguised as men, mistaken identity and family disapproval. Rarely performed.
Comedy of Errors - 1594. For either Lord Strange's Men or The Lord Chamberlain's Men (the company name changed in 1594) at The Theatre
No-one gets married at the end but a husband and wife (Egeon and Aemila) are reunited.
Lots of mistaken identity with 2 sets of identical twins and numerous misunderstandings. This is actually a classic farce.
Best adaptation: The Boys from Syracuse - 1938 (film 1940)
Globe version
Love's Labours Lost - 1594/5. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men at The Inns of Court.
4 young men (one a minor king) swear to give up everything enjoyable, especially women, for 3 years and dedicate themselves to study. Unfortunately the minor king has forgotten that the Princess of France and her 3 ladies are about to pay his court a visit.
Which they do - with obvious consequences.
Lots of disguise, people pretending to be someone else, misunderstandings, lost letters and women getting the upper hand.
No marriages at the end - but the promise of 4 weddings in a year's time.
Lots of film versions. No adaptations.
Globe version
A Midsummer Night's Dream - 1595. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men. The reference to Elizabeth I suggests it was written for a Court performance.
Two couples, Hermia and Demetrius and Helena and Lysander, who are not in love with one another are in love with the other couple. (It's already confusing.) Hermia and Lysander run away to the forest, hotly pursued by Demetrius Helena.
Meanwhile the king and queen of the fairies have fallen out and each is trying to punish the other with the aid of the sprite, Puck - and they get involved in the human love story.
Lots of confusion, love potions administered to the wrong people and fairy queens falling in love with a donkey (not a real donkey).
The right people marry each other at the end of the play, which actually revolves around the marriage celebrations of Duke Theseus and his captured bride, Hippolyta.
Lots of film versions.
Best adaptation: Shakespeare Retold BBC 2005
Globe version 1
Globe version 2
The Merchant of Venice - 1596. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men probably for The Theatre.
Bassanio, who is broke, wants to marry Portia - who is very rich - so he borrows money from his best friend, Antonio, the merchant. All Antonio's money is tied up in his ships which are currently away trading, so he borrows the money from Shylock, the Jewish money lender.
Antonio and Shylock loathe one another so Shylock demands a pound of Antonio's flesh if he doesn't repay the debt in 3 months.
Of course, all Antonio's ships founder and he can't repay so Shylock gets his day in court.
A miraculous lawyer turns up (Portia, now married to Bassanio and dressed as a man so obviously no-one recognises her) and manages to get Shylock punished for daring to threaten a citizen of Venice.
Portia and her maid Nerissa have played a trick on their husbands and the final act exposes the trick and everyone is reconciled.
Lots of films.
No adaptations in English but there is a Bollywood film 'Shylock'.
Globe version (which I didn't like)
Merry Wives of Windsor - 1597. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men for Elizabeth 1 at The Garter Feast and, in the unlikely event that he was born on April 23rd, on Shakespeare's 33rd birthday. (The tavern in the play is The Garter.)
The only play to be written entirely in prose. The apocryphal story is that Elizabeth I asked to see Falstaff in love.
Letters read by the wrong people, people pretending to be other people, Falstaff dressed as a woman for comic effect and all the right people get married at the end.
This is good:
https://issuu.com/shakespearem…/…/shakespeare_magazine_03/31
Several operatic adaptations.
Globe version.
Much Ado About Nothing - 1598. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men but the company had no theatre at the time and was performing at The Curtain, so if it was performed soon after being written it would have been at The Curtain.
No twins! A hint towards 'the bed trick'. Lots of misunderstandings and trickery. There are darker elements in this play - Don John has no redeeming features and Hero is treated abominably but Beatrice and Benedick's flyting* is a joy and, guess what, everyone gets married at the end!
*Flyting: the easiest way to define it is as a cross between flirting a fighting. Shakespeare is an absolute past master at this and it turns up time and again, but only in 'Much Ado' is it central to the action.
Adaptations: Berlioz adapted it as an opera.
Lots of film versions.
Globe version
As You Like It - 1599. For The Lord Chamberlain's men at The Globe, August 1600.
No twins. Woman dressed as man so convincingly that no-one notices (again). Much comedy when an ignorant shepherd girl falls in love with 'Ganymede'. Most of the action takes place in The Forest of Arden where everyone is in exile.
Lots of weddings at the end. An actual deus ex machina. Lots of very bad poetry and, famously, 'the seven ages of man' - actually an excuse for a quick change routine.
No English adaptations but one Bollywood.
Kenneth Branagh film 2006
Globe version I saw this production and loved it.
Twelfth Night or What You Will* - 1600. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men at The Inns of Court - first known performance February 1601.
More twins, more mistaken identities, more letters sent to the wrong people (in this case deliberately), more women dressed as men. (Anyone sense a pattern?) More couples married at the end.
This is the first of the 'dark' comedies. It opens with Olivia in mourning and rejecting Orsino and ends with the downfall of Malvolio who has been tricked throughout the play. Malvolio is based on an actual steward to Lord Strange: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23676152?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
and is a satire on Puritans. We shall come across this again in post 1600 plays.
Globe version
* When Shakespeare uses 'Will' it's usually a reference to himself.
Measure for Measure - 1603. For The King's Men at The Globe. Possibly in collaboration with Middleton, but it's more likely that Middleton revised it at a later date.
This one is very dark indeed.
It features disguise and at least one final wedding and 'the bed trick' which was a convention, but one not previously used by Shakespeare.
Another Puritan character gets his come-uppance. There is nothing comedic about Angelo who is made to marry at the end of the play as a punishment. He imprisons and threatens to have Claudio executed for lechery (unjustly) and then tries to barter Caludio's life for his novice sister's virginity.
The sub-plot is all about brothels and syphilis and is included as a nod to James I who was trying to have the London 'stews' closed.
It was also rumoured that James went into London in disguise to check on his subjects, as The Duke does in this play.
Adaptations: Desperate Measures, musical 2004.
Best version: BBC 1979 with a stellar cast and directed by the amazing Desmond Davies.
Globe version.
All's Well That Ends Well - 1603/4 - possibly never performed in Shakespeare's lifetime - or till the 18th century. Collaboration with Middleton.
It's incredibly complicated, but it does end with the main couple being reunited.
No adaptations.
Globe version
The Winter's Tale - 1609. For The King's Men. First recorded performance at The Globe in 1611, but probably written for The Blackfriars.
'Exit pursued by a bear' .
Usually called a 'problem play' as it doesn't fit comfortably into the 'comedy' genre, but hey -
it ends with a wedding, a reconciliation and certainly has elements of a 'dark comedy'. No twins. No women dressed as men. No misunderstood letters.
Jealous king, Leontes, accuses his pregnant wife of infidelity and has her imprisoned. When the child is born he orders his faithful retainer to kill her, but faithful retainer abandons her (and gets killed by that bear). Child grows up as a shepherd's daughter but Prince Florizel meets her and they fall in love. Perdita's origins are revealed and they all go back to her father where they get married. Leontes' wife has apparently died but miraculously the statue carved in her honour comes to life and everyone lives happily ever after.
No adaptations and only 1 film
No Globe version
The Two Noble Kinsmen - 1613. For The King's Men at The Blackfriars 1614.
Co-written with John Fletcher (who would take over from Shakespeare at the resident playwright at The Globe). Shakespeare appears to have only written about half of the play.
.
A comedy is a play which ends in a wedding.
Note: all Globe DVDs are cheaper from Amazon.
You can also utilise The Globe Player.
The Taming of the Shrew - possibly Shakespeare's earliest play. Lots of debate about that one. 1591 at the latest.
Two sisters - horrible, bad-tempered, rude Kate and lovely, sweet innocent Bianca, both unmarried. Bianca can't marry till someone takes Kate on. Enter Petruccio who marries Kate and turns her into the ideal wife whilst Bianca is finally shown in her true colours.
Best adaptation: Ten Things I Hate About You - 1999
Musical: Kiss Me Kate - 1948 on Broadway/1953 film
Best sequel: The Tamer Tamed - John Fletcher - 1611 for The King's Men.
Globe version. (I love this production.)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona - 1590. Performed at Gray's Inn.
Two couples, Valentine and Sylvia and Proteus and Julia marry at the end of the play after undergoing lost of difficulties including kidnap, women disguised as men, mistaken identity and family disapproval. Rarely performed.
Comedy of Errors - 1594. For either Lord Strange's Men or The Lord Chamberlain's Men (the company name changed in 1594) at The Theatre
No-one gets married at the end but a husband and wife (Egeon and Aemila) are reunited.
Lots of mistaken identity with 2 sets of identical twins and numerous misunderstandings. This is actually a classic farce.
Best adaptation: The Boys from Syracuse - 1938 (film 1940)
Globe version
Love's Labours Lost - 1594/5. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men at The Inns of Court.
4 young men (one a minor king) swear to give up everything enjoyable, especially women, for 3 years and dedicate themselves to study. Unfortunately the minor king has forgotten that the Princess of France and her 3 ladies are about to pay his court a visit.
Which they do - with obvious consequences.
Lots of disguise, people pretending to be someone else, misunderstandings, lost letters and women getting the upper hand.
No marriages at the end - but the promise of 4 weddings in a year's time.
Lots of film versions. No adaptations.
Globe version
A Midsummer Night's Dream - 1595. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men. The reference to Elizabeth I suggests it was written for a Court performance.
Two couples, Hermia and Demetrius and Helena and Lysander, who are not in love with one another are in love with the other couple. (It's already confusing.) Hermia and Lysander run away to the forest, hotly pursued by Demetrius Helena.
Meanwhile the king and queen of the fairies have fallen out and each is trying to punish the other with the aid of the sprite, Puck - and they get involved in the human love story.
Lots of confusion, love potions administered to the wrong people and fairy queens falling in love with a donkey (not a real donkey).
The right people marry each other at the end of the play, which actually revolves around the marriage celebrations of Duke Theseus and his captured bride, Hippolyta.
Lots of film versions.
Best adaptation: Shakespeare Retold BBC 2005
Globe version 1
Globe version 2
The Merchant of Venice - 1596. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men probably for The Theatre.
Bassanio, who is broke, wants to marry Portia - who is very rich - so he borrows money from his best friend, Antonio, the merchant. All Antonio's money is tied up in his ships which are currently away trading, so he borrows the money from Shylock, the Jewish money lender.
Antonio and Shylock loathe one another so Shylock demands a pound of Antonio's flesh if he doesn't repay the debt in 3 months.
Of course, all Antonio's ships founder and he can't repay so Shylock gets his day in court.
A miraculous lawyer turns up (Portia, now married to Bassanio and dressed as a man so obviously no-one recognises her) and manages to get Shylock punished for daring to threaten a citizen of Venice.
Portia and her maid Nerissa have played a trick on their husbands and the final act exposes the trick and everyone is reconciled.
Lots of films.
No adaptations in English but there is a Bollywood film 'Shylock'.
Globe version (which I didn't like)
Merry Wives of Windsor - 1597. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men for Elizabeth 1 at The Garter Feast and, in the unlikely event that he was born on April 23rd, on Shakespeare's 33rd birthday. (The tavern in the play is The Garter.)
The only play to be written entirely in prose. The apocryphal story is that Elizabeth I asked to see Falstaff in love.
Letters read by the wrong people, people pretending to be other people, Falstaff dressed as a woman for comic effect and all the right people get married at the end.
This is good:
https://issuu.com/shakespearem…/…/shakespeare_magazine_03/31
Several operatic adaptations.
Globe version.
Much Ado About Nothing - 1598. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men but the company had no theatre at the time and was performing at The Curtain, so if it was performed soon after being written it would have been at The Curtain.
No twins! A hint towards 'the bed trick'. Lots of misunderstandings and trickery. There are darker elements in this play - Don John has no redeeming features and Hero is treated abominably but Beatrice and Benedick's flyting* is a joy and, guess what, everyone gets married at the end!
*Flyting: the easiest way to define it is as a cross between flirting a fighting. Shakespeare is an absolute past master at this and it turns up time and again, but only in 'Much Ado' is it central to the action.
Adaptations: Berlioz adapted it as an opera.
Lots of film versions.
Globe version
As You Like It - 1599. For The Lord Chamberlain's men at The Globe, August 1600.
No twins. Woman dressed as man so convincingly that no-one notices (again). Much comedy when an ignorant shepherd girl falls in love with 'Ganymede'. Most of the action takes place in The Forest of Arden where everyone is in exile.
Lots of weddings at the end. An actual deus ex machina. Lots of very bad poetry and, famously, 'the seven ages of man' - actually an excuse for a quick change routine.
No English adaptations but one Bollywood.
Kenneth Branagh film 2006
Globe version I saw this production and loved it.
Twelfth Night or What You Will* - 1600. For The Lord Chamberlain's Men at The Inns of Court - first known performance February 1601.
More twins, more mistaken identities, more letters sent to the wrong people (in this case deliberately), more women dressed as men. (Anyone sense a pattern?) More couples married at the end.
This is the first of the 'dark' comedies. It opens with Olivia in mourning and rejecting Orsino and ends with the downfall of Malvolio who has been tricked throughout the play. Malvolio is based on an actual steward to Lord Strange: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23676152?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
and is a satire on Puritans. We shall come across this again in post 1600 plays.
Globe version
* When Shakespeare uses 'Will' it's usually a reference to himself.
Measure for Measure - 1603. For The King's Men at The Globe. Possibly in collaboration with Middleton, but it's more likely that Middleton revised it at a later date.
This one is very dark indeed.
It features disguise and at least one final wedding and 'the bed trick' which was a convention, but one not previously used by Shakespeare.
Another Puritan character gets his come-uppance. There is nothing comedic about Angelo who is made to marry at the end of the play as a punishment. He imprisons and threatens to have Claudio executed for lechery (unjustly) and then tries to barter Caludio's life for his novice sister's virginity.
The sub-plot is all about brothels and syphilis and is included as a nod to James I who was trying to have the London 'stews' closed.
It was also rumoured that James went into London in disguise to check on his subjects, as The Duke does in this play.
Adaptations: Desperate Measures, musical 2004.
Best version: BBC 1979 with a stellar cast and directed by the amazing Desmond Davies.
Globe version.
All's Well That Ends Well - 1603/4 - possibly never performed in Shakespeare's lifetime - or till the 18th century. Collaboration with Middleton.
It's incredibly complicated, but it does end with the main couple being reunited.
No adaptations.
Globe version
The Winter's Tale - 1609. For The King's Men. First recorded performance at The Globe in 1611, but probably written for The Blackfriars.
'Exit pursued by a bear' .
Usually called a 'problem play' as it doesn't fit comfortably into the 'comedy' genre, but hey -
it ends with a wedding, a reconciliation and certainly has elements of a 'dark comedy'. No twins. No women dressed as men. No misunderstood letters.
Jealous king, Leontes, accuses his pregnant wife of infidelity and has her imprisoned. When the child is born he orders his faithful retainer to kill her, but faithful retainer abandons her (and gets killed by that bear). Child grows up as a shepherd's daughter but Prince Florizel meets her and they fall in love. Perdita's origins are revealed and they all go back to her father where they get married. Leontes' wife has apparently died but miraculously the statue carved in her honour comes to life and everyone lives happily ever after.
No adaptations and only 1 film
No Globe version
The Two Noble Kinsmen - 1613. For The King's Men at The Blackfriars 1614.
Co-written with John Fletcher (who would take over from Shakespeare at the resident playwright at The Globe). Shakespeare appears to have only written about half of the play.
.
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