Hyde Park (play)

"Hyde Park" is a Caroline era comedy of manners written by James Shirley, and first published in 1637.

"Hyde Park" was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on April 20, 1632, and acted at the Cockpit Theatre by Queen Henrietta's Men. The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on April 13, 1637, and published later that year by the bookselling partners Andrew Crooke and William Cooke, who issued several of Shirley's works in this period.

"Hyde Park" was revived during the Restoration era — in a production that featured live horses for the horse-racing material. Samuel Pepys saw it on July 11, 1668, but didn't like it. Three days later, though, the play was given a royal performance.

Place realism

The play has been noted for the element of naturalism in its setting. "Hyde Park" exploits the atmosphere of the real contemporaneous Hyde Park, with horse races and footraces. [Terence P.Logan and Denzell S. Smith, eds., "The Later Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama," Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1978; p. 156.] Games and gambling are the constant themes and motifs of the play; the characters envision and describe their relationships in terms of competition and gamesmanship. The Park's nightingales accentuate the romantic plots. Upon publication Shirley dedicated the play to Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, who was the Keeper of the Crown Land of Hyde Park, as well as a member of the Privy Council and a Knight of the Garter. [Ira Clark, "Professional Playwrights: Massinger, Ford, Shirley, and Brome." Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky, 1992; p. 139.]

Dramas utilizing "place realism" came into fashion in the early 1630s, [Theodore Miles, "Place-Realism in a Group of Caroline Plays," "Review of English Studies", Vol. 18 No. 73 (October 1942), pp. 428-40.] partially in response to the 1631 publication of Ben Jonson's "Bartholomew Fair". Shackerley Marmion's "Holland's Leaguer" (1631), Thomas Nabbes's "Covent Garden" (1633) and "Tottenham Court" (1634), and several of the plays of Richard Brome all participate in this theatrical fashion.

ynopsis

"Hyde Park" utilizes the triple-plot structure employed in many plays of the era — a structure that Shirley develops through a number of his plays, most notably in comedies like "The Ball" and "The Lady of Pleasure". [Richard Levin, "The Multiple Plot in English Renaissance Drama." Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1971; pp. 96-102.] The main plot features the romance of Fairfield and Carol. Fairfield regards Carol as being "too cruel" in her attitude toward men; he maneuvers her into a commitment "never to desire my company "— as a paradoxical way of winning her. The two engage in a back-and-forth battle of wills and wits, a contest of mutual manipulation, each seeking the upper hand against each other in a series of encounters (Act I, scene ii; II,iv; III,ii; and V,i). In the end, they call their contest a tie and come to terms.

In the second-level plot, Trier engages in one of those all-too-foolish tests of love and faith that feature so often in plays of the English Renaissance: he has Julietta entertain Lord Bonville to try her loyalty...only to lose her instead. Bonville the rake and seducer is converted into a serious love partner by Julietta's honorable conduct (II,iii; III,i; and V,i).

And in the broad and farcical comic subplot, Mistress Bonavent made an agreement with her husband before he left for the sea: she would be free to marry again if he does not return in seven years. On the day the seven-year commitment expires, she marries a new love, Lacy &mdash ;but on the same day Bonavent, with the good timing suggested by his name, returns, to reclaim his wife before her new marriage is consummated (II,ii; IV,iii). The play is rounded out with the usual (for Shirley) comic support, notably the clownish suitors Venture and Rider.

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