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1Maid's Tragedy

By Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher

Beaumont and Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy (first published 1619) is a sensational Jacobean sex tragedy. When gentleman soldier Melantius returns to Rhodes, he finds his dear friend Amintor is recently married - but not to his troth-plight love Aspatia (the maid of the title). Instead, the King has arranged a match between Amintor and Melantius' sister, the beautiful Evadne. On his wedding night, Amintor finds that his new wife has married him under false pretenses - and this unleashes a torrent of dire consequences, sexual, emotional, and ultimately political. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)<br/><br/><strong>Cast</strong>:<br>Cleon: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/2624">David Nicol</a><br>Strato: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/4705">Algy Pug</a><br>Lysippus: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/1492">mb</a><br>Diphilus/Messenger/First Gentleman: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6035">Marty Kris</a><br>Melantius: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/5141">David Goldfarb</a><br>Aspatia: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/3536">Arielle Lipshaw</a><br>Amintor: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6037">Peter Bishop</a><br>Calianax: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/152">Andy Minter</a><br>King: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/3699">Bruce Pirie</a><br>Evadne/Diagoras/Narrator: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/1259">Elizabeth Klett</a><br>Night/Antiphila: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/4174">Availle</a><br>Cynthia/Olympias: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6577">Skylark</a><br>Neptune: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6446">Bob Gonzalez</a><br>Eolus/Servant: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/3664">Barry Eads</a><br>Dula: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6281">Beth Thomas</a><br>Lady: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/3816">Bev J. Stevens</a><br><br><strong>Audio edited by Elizabeth Klett</strong>

The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a play in five acts, first performed in 1607. It is the first whole parody (or pastiche) play in English. The play is a satire on chivalric romances in general, similar to Don Quixote. It breaks the fourth wall from its outset. As a play called "The London Merchant" is about to be performed, a Citizen and his Wife "in the audience" interrupt and demand that the players put on a play of their own choosing and suggest that their apprentice, Rafe, should have a part in the play as a knight errant. He refers to himself as the "Grocer Errant" and has a burning pestle on his shield as a heraldic device. This meta-fictional plot is intercut with the main plot of the interrupted play, where Jasper Merrythought, the merchant's apprentice, is in love with his master's daughter, Luce, and must elope with her to save her from the arranged marriage with Humphrey, a "swell" or City man of fashion. Meanwhile Jasper's mother has decided to leave her husband Old Merrythought, who, in an apparent mid-life crisis, has spent all his savings in drinking and partying. Summary by Wikipedia and Rob Board<br><br><b>Cast</b><br /> Narrator: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8164">Kristin Gjerløw</a><br /> Citizen: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10537">Phil Birss</a><br /> Wife: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10538">Jo Vickers</a><br /> Rafe / Michael: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8164">Rob Board</a><br /> Boy: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10458">ScarlettG</a><br /> Venturewell: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10396">John Burlinson</a><br /> Luce: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7315">Charlotte Duckett</a><br /> Humphrey: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9905">Hamlet</a><br /> Merrythought: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6754">ToddHW</a><br /> Mistress Merrythought: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10179">Sonia</a><br /> Jasper: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8808">davidpr</a><br /> Tim: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10459">Dillon McFarlane</a><br /> George: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7026">Michele Eaton</a><br /> Speaker of Prologue / William Hammerton: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7170">alanmapstone</a><br /> Tapster / 2nd Soldier: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10614">Leanne Yau</a><br /> Host: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/1724">Anna Simon</a><br /> Man / 2nd Man / 3rd Man: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11067">TomDavisBeal</a><br /> Barber / Sergeant: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9647">Joseph Tabler</a><br /> Woman / 1st Soldier: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/3645">MaryAnn</a><br /> Pompiona: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9872">Newgatenovelist</a><br /> Servant: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10627">Georgina Shaw</a><br /> George Greengoose: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10542">David Purdy</a><br /> <b>Edited by: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8164">Rob Board</a></b>

LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 recordings of On the Tombs in Westminster Abbey by Francis Beaumont.<br> This was the Weekly Poetry project for July 21, 2024. <br> ------<br> Francis Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher. He became a student of poet and playwright Ben Jonson; he was also acquainted with Michael Drayton and other poets and dramatists. - Summary by Wikipedia