THE KING’S MAN
The new king, James I, who had held the Scottish throne as James VI since he had been an infant, immediately took the Lord Chamberlain’s Men under his direct patronage. Henceforth they would be the King’s Men, and for the rest of Shakespeare’s career they were favored with far more court performances than any of their rivals. There even seem to have been rumors early in the reign that Shakespeare and Burbage were being considered for knighthoods, an unprecedented honor for mere actors—and one that in the event was not accorded to a member of the profession for nearly three hundred years, when the title was bestowed upon Henry Irving, the leading Shakespearean actor of Queen Victoria’s reign.
Shakespeare’s productivity rate slowed in the Jacobean years, not because of age or some personal trauma, but because there were frequent outbreaks of plague, causing the theaters to be closed for long periods. The King’s Men were forced to spend many months on the road. Between November 1603 and 1608, they are to be found at various towns in the south and midlands, though Shakespeare probably did not tour with them by this time. He had bought a large house back home in Stratford and was accumulating other property. He may indeed have stopped acting soon after the new king took the throne. With the London theaters closed so much of the time and a large repertoire on the stocks, Shakespeare seems to have focused his energies on writing a few long and complex tragedies that could have been played on demand at court: Othello, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, and Cymbeline are among his longest and poetically grandest plays. Macbeth only survives in a shorter text, which shows signs of adaptation after Shakespeare’s death. The bitterly satirical Timon of Athens, apparently a collaboration with Thomas Middleton that may have failed on stage, also belongs to this period. In comedy, too, he wrote longer and morally darker works than in the Elizabethan period, pushing at the very bounds of the form in Measure for Measure and All’s Well That Ends Well.
From 1608 onward, when the King’s Men began occupying the indoor Blackfriars playhouse (as a winter house, meaning that they only used the outdoor Globe in summer?), Shakespeare turned to a more romantic style. His company had a great success with a revived and altered version of an old pastoral play called Mucedorus. It even featured a bear. The younger dramatist John Fletcher, meanwhile, sometimes working in collaboration with Francis Beaumont, was pioneering a new style of tragicomedy, a mix of romance and royal-ism laced with intrigue and pastoral excursions. Shakespeare experimented with this idiom in Cymbeline and it was presumably with his blessing that Fletcher eventually took over as the King’s Men’s company dramatist. The two writers apparently collaborated on three plays in the years 1612–14: a lost romance called Cardenio (based on the love madness of a character in Cervantes’ Don Quixote), Henry the Eighth (originally staged with the title “All Is True”), and The Two Noble Kinsmen, a dramatization of Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale.” These were written after Shakespeare’s two final solo-authored plays, The Winter’s Tale, a self-consciously old-fashioned work dramatizing the pastoral romance of his old enemy Robert Greene, and The Tempest, which at one and the same time drew together multiple theatrical traditions, diverse reading, and contemporary interest in the fate of a ship that had been wrecked on the way to the New World.
The collaborations with Fletcher suggest that Shakespeare’s career ended with a slow fade rather than the sudden retirement supposed by the nineteenth-century Romantic critics who read Prospero’s epilogue to The Tempest as Shakespeare’s personal farewell to his art. In the last few years of his life Shakespeare certainly spent more of his time in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he became further involved in property dealing and litigation. But his London life also continued. In 1613 he made his first major London property purchase: a freehold house in the Blackfriars district, close to his company’s indoor theater. The Two Noble Kinsmen may have been written as late as 1614, and Shakespeare was in London on business a little more than a year before he died of an unknown cause at home in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616, probably on his fifty-second birthday.
About half the sum of his works were published in his lifetime, in texts of variable quality. A few years after his death, his fellow actors began putting together an authorized edition of his complete Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. It appeared in 1623, in large “Folio” format. This collection of thirty-six plays gave Shakespeare his immortality. In the words of his fellow dramatist Ben Jonson, who contributed two poems of praise at the start of the Folio, the body of his work made him “a monument without a tomb”:
And art alive still while thy book doth live
And we have wits to read and praise to give …
He was not of an age, but for all time!
SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS:
A CHRONOLOGY
1589–91
? Arden of Faversham (possible part authorship)
1589–92
The Taming of the Shrew
1589–92
? Edward the Third (possible part authorship)
1591
The Second Part of Henry the Sixth, originally called The First Part of the Contention betwixt the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster (element of coauthorship possible)
1591
The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, originally called The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York (element of coauthorship probable)
1591–92
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
1591–92; perhaps revised 1594
The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus (probably cowritten with, or revising an earlier version by, George Peele)
1592
The First Part of Henry the Sixth, probably with Thomas Nashe and others
1592/94
King Richard the Third
1593
Venus and Adonis (poem)
1593–94
The Rape of Lucrece (poem)
1593-1608
Sonnets (154 poems, published 1609 with A Lover’s Complaint, poem of disputed authorship)
1592-94 or 1600–03
Sir Thomas More (a single scene for a play originally by Anthony Munday, with other revisions by Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, and Thomas Heywood)
1594
The Comedy of Errors
1595
Love’s Labour’s Lost
1595–97
Love’s Labour’s Won (a lost play, unless the original title for another comedy)
1595–96
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
1595–96
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
1595–96
King Richard the Second
1595–97
The Life and Death of King John (possibly earlier)
1596–97
The Merchant of Venice
1596–97
The First Part of Henry the Fourth
1597–98
The Second Part of Henry the Fourth
1598
Much Ado About Nothing
1598–99
The Passionate Pilgrim (20 poems, some not by Shakespeare)
1599
The Life of Henry the Fifth
1599
“To the Queen” (epilogue for a court performance)
1599
As You Like It
1599
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
1600–01
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (perhaps revising an earlier version)
1600–01
The Merry Wives of Windsor (perhaps revising version of 1597–99)
1601
“Let the Bird of Loudest Lay” (poem, known since 1807 as “The Phoenix and Turtle” [turtledove])
1601
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
1601–02
The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida
1604
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
1604
Measure for Measure
1605
&
nbsp; All’s Well That Ends Well
1605
The Life of Timon of Athens, with Thomas Middleton
1605–06
The Tragedy of King Lear
1605–08
? contribution to The Four Plays in One (lost, except for A Yorkshire Tragedy, mostly by Thomas Middleton)
1606
The Tragedy of Macbeth (surviving text has additional scenes by Thomas Middleton)
1606–07
The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra
1608
The Tragedy of Coriolanus
1608
Pericles, Prince of Tyre, with George Wilkins
1610
The Tragedy of Cymbeline
1611
The Winter’s Tale
1611
The Tempest
1612–13
Cardenio, with John Fletcher (survives only in later adaptation called Double Falsehood by Lewis Theobald)
1613
Henry VIII (All Is True), with John Fletcher
1613–14
The Two Noble Kinsmen, with John Fletcher
FURTHER READING
AND VIEWING
CRITICAL APPROACHES
Barber, C. L., Shakespeare’s Festive Comedy: A Study of Dramatic Form and Its Relation to Social Custom (1959). Half a century after publication, still the best book on Shakespearean comedy.
Breitenberg, Mark, “The Anatomy of Masculine Desire in Love’s Labour’s Lost, “Shakespeare Quarterly” 43 (1992), pp. 430–49. Gender-aware reading.
Carroll, William C., The Great Feast of Language in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (1976). Excellent book devoted entirely to the play’s wonderfully complex language.
Colie, Rosalie L., Shakespeare’s “Living Art” (1974). Unsurpassed account of Shakespeare’s self-conscious artfulness.
Elam, Keir, Shakespeare’s Universe of Discourse: Language-Games in the Comedies (1984). Sophisticated use of modern semiotics.
Lamb, Mary Ellen, “The Nature of Topicality in Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Shakespeare Survey 38 (1985), pp. 49–59. The most sensible and balanced treatment of a vexed critical subject.
Londré, Felicia Hardison, ed., Love’s Labour’s Lost: Critical Essays (1997). Useful range of approaches.
Maslen, R. W., Shakespeare and Comedy (2005). Helpful setting of the full range of Shakespearean comedies in their context and traditions.
Nevo, Ruth, Comic Transformations in Shakespeare (1980). Good on psychology and structure.
Parker, Patricia, “Preposterous Reversals: Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Modern Language Quarterly 54 (1993), pp. 435–82. Dazzling attention to rhetoric and wordplay.
Roesen, Bobbyann [Anne Barton], “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Shakespeare Quarterly 4 (1973), pp. 411–426. One of the first critical essays to take the play seriously.
Turner, John, “Love’s Labour’s Lost: The Court at Play,” in Shakespeare: Out of Court: Dramatizations of Court Society, ed. Graham Holderness, Nick Potter, and John Turner (1990), pp. 19–48. Historical-sociological treatment.
THE PLAY IN PERFORMANCE
Branagh, Kenneth, “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” in Shakespeare in Perspective Volume Two, ed. Roger Sales (1985). Actor’s perspective.
Brooke, Michael, “Love’s Labour’s Lost on Screen,” www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/564633/index.html. Pithy overview of 1965, 1975, and 1985 BBC television productions and 2000 Kenneth Branagh film.
Gilbert, Miriam, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare in Performance (1993). Good overview.
Holland, Peter, English Shakespeares: Shakespeare on the English Stage in the 1990s (1997). Considers some key modern productions.
Luscombe, Christopher, “Launcelot Gobbo and Moth,” in Players of Shakespeare 4, ed. Robert Smallwood (1998). View from a small but key part.
Pendergast, John S., Love’s Labour’s Lost: A Guide to the Play (2002). Helpful insights.
Richardson, Ian, in Shakespeare’s Players, ed. Judith Cook (1983). On playing Berowne.
RSC “Exploring Shakespeare: Love’s Labour’s Lost.” Particular focus on Gregory Doran’s 2008 production, starring David Tennant as Berowne.
For a more detailed Shakespeare bibliography and selections from a wide range of critical accounts of the play, with linking commentary, visit the edition website, www.therscshakespeare.com.
AVAILABLE ON DVD
Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed by Elijah Moshinksy (BBC television Shakespeare, 1985). Very competent rendering in neoclassical eighteenth-century setting.
Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed by Kenneth Branagh (2000). Not entirely successful updating into the style of a 1930s Cole Porter musical, with very heavily cut text.
REFERENCES
1. In each of his first two comedies, The Blind Beggar of Alexandria (1596) and An Humorous Day’s Mirth (1597), the playwright George Chapman appears to allude to Shakespeare’s play.
2. Quoted in E. K. Chambers, William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems (2 vols, 1930), Vol. 2, p. 332.
3. Dr. Johnson on Shakespeare, ed. W. K. Wimsatt (1969), p. 108.
4. W. May Phelps and John Forbes-Robertson, The Life and Life-Work of Samuel Phelps (1886), p. 165, quoted in Miriam Gilbert, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare in Performance (1993), p. 35.
5. New York Times, 29 March 1891.
6. Gordon Crosse, Fifty Years of Shakespearean Playgoing (1941), p. 94.
7. John Dover Wilson, Shakespeare’s Happy Comedies (1962), pp. 64, 73.
8. The Times, 29 April 1946.
9. Sally Beauman, The Royal Shakespeare Company: A History of Ten Decades (1982), p. 166.
10. Lionel Hale, The Old Vic: 1949–50 (1950), p. 32.
11. Helen Dawson, “A Labour of Love?” Plays and Players 16(5) (February 1969).
12. Irving Wardle, The Times, 20 December 1968.
13. Charles Marowitz, New York Times, 5 January 1969.
14. Gilbert, Love’s Labour’s Lost, pp. 78–9.
15. John S. Pendergast, Love’s Labour’s Lost: A Guide to the Play (2002), p. 156.
16. Robert Giroux, New York Times, 12 February 1989.
17. Sheridan Morley, New Statesman, 10 March 2003.
18. Stanley Kauffman, “Well, Not Completely Lost,” New Republic, 10–17 July 2000, pp. 32–3.
19. A. O. Scott, “What Say You, My Lords? You’d Rather Charleston?” New York Times, 9 June 2000.
20. Andrew St. George, Financial Times, 7 September 1990.
21. Harold Matthews, Theatre World 61(484) (May 1965).
22. Irving Wardle, The Times, 8 August 1973.
23. Rhoda Koenig, Independent, 29 October 1993.
24. Peter Roberts, Plays and Players 12(9) June 1965.
25. B. A. Young, Financial Times, 8 April 1965.
26. Irving Wardle, The Times, 8 August 1973.
27. Roger Warren, Shakespeare Survey 32 (1979).
28. Russell Jackson, Cahiers Elisabéthains 28 (October 1985).
29. Christopher Edwards, Spectator, 27 October 1984.
30. Michael Coveney, Observer, 9 September 1990.
31. Peter Holland, English Shakespeares (1997), p. 164.
32. Holland, English Shakespeares, p. 187.
33. Stanley Wells, Times Literary Supplement, 5 November 1993.
34. Wells, Times Literary Supplement, 5 November 1993.
35. Pendergast, Love’s Labour’s Lost, p. 106.
36. Robert Speaight, Shakespeare Quarterly 16 (1965).
37. Christopher Luscombe, “Launcelot Gobbo and Moth,” in Players of Shakespeare 4, ed. Robert Smallwood (1998).
38. Kenneth Branagh, “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” in Shakespeare in Perspective Volume Two, ed. Roger Sales (1985).
39. Rhoda Koenig, Independent, 29 October 1993.
40. Martin Dodsworth, Times Literary Supplement, 26 October 1984.
41. Jackson, Cahiers Elisabéthains.
42. Warren, Shakespeare Survey, 1979.
/> 43. Gilbert, Love’s Labour’s Lost, p. 177.
44. Ian Richardson talking about playing Berowne (1975), in Shakespeare’s Players, ed. Judith Cook (1983).
45. Michael Billington, Guardian, 10 May 1975.
46. John Barton, program note for Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC, 1965.
47. J. W. Lambert, Drama 130 (Autumn 1978).
48. Gilbert, Love’s Labour Lost, p. 173.
49. Warren, Shakespeare Survey.
50. Jackson, Cahiers Elisabéthains.
51. Michael Ratcliffe, Observer, 14 October 1984.
52. Gilbert, Love’s Labour’s Lost, p. 211.
53. Robert Smallwood, Shakespeare Quarterly 42 (1991).
54. Holland, English Shakespeares, p. 191.
55. Janet Clare, “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” in Shakespeare in Performance, ed. Keith Parsons and Pamela Mason (1995).
56. Holland, English Shakespeares, p. 187.
57. Gilbert, Love’s Labour’s Lost, p. 212.
58. Holland, English Shakespeares, p. 197.
59. Samuel Schoenbaum, Times Literary Supplement, 27 October 1978.
60. Anne Barton, program notes for Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC, 1978.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
AND PICTURE CREDITS
Preparation of “Love’s Labour’s Lost in Performance” was assisted by two generous grants: from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick, for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for a term’s research leave that enabled Jonathan Bate to work on “The Director’s Cut.”
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