The Mock Tempest
Encyclopedia
The Mock Tempest, or the Enchanted Castle is a Restoration
era stage play, a parody
by Thomas Duffet
; it premiered in 1674
, and was first printed in 1675
by the bookseller William Cademan. In creating his farce
, Duffet's target was not Shakespeare's
famous play, but the adaptation of it that John Dryden
and Sir William Davenant
wrote in the 1660s.
burned down of 25 January 1672
. Its occupant, the King's Company
, suddenly faced a major problem, and a great disadvantage compared to the rival Duke's Company
. One way in which the King's troupe responded to their situation was by staging parodies of their rivals' popular successes. One of those successes was The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island
, the Dryden/Davenant adaptation that had first been staged in 1667
. In 1674 that work had been mounted in a new musical or "operatic" version, prepared by Thomas Shadwell
. Duffet, a minor dramatist and songwriter, produced his lampoon before the end of that year; The Mock Tempest likely premiered on 19 November 1674. "The Design of this Play was to draw the Town from the Duke's Theatre, who for a considerable amount of time had frequented that admirable reviv'd comedy called The Tempest."
The parody goes on to mangle the romance of Dorinda and Hippolito, characters added to the original by the adaptors. Dryden and Davenant made their Hippolito and Dorinda ignorant of the opposite sex; Duffet's Dorinda and Miranda are very familiar with men, but stumble over the concept of a "husband" —
Along the way, Duffet mocks Davenant's musical adaptation of Macbeth
, staged in 1664
but first printed in 1674. (Duffet also ridicules Davenent's Macbeth in his Epilogue to his burlesque of Elkanah Settle
's The Empress of Morocco, another work of 1674.) The Duke of Mantua has a son who is a Quaker (his name is "Quakero"), allowing for comedy on that subject. And there is also "talk or enactment of drunkenness, violence, mutilation, cannibalism; of pimping, prostitution, adultery, incest; of hypocrisy, cowardice, torture, execution; of urine, vermin, venereal disease; of deviance, dissolution, and death."
The last act of Duffet's play features a parody of Ariel's song "Where the bee sucks, there suck I" from the final scene of The Tempest. Duffet's version is "Where good ale is, there suck I." The parody version was sung by Betty Mackerel, an orange vender who was promoted to the stage.
The Mock Tempest may have been revived in 1682
.
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
era stage play, a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
by Thomas Duffet
Thomas Duffet
Thomas Duffet , or Duffett, was an Irish playwright and songwriter active in England in the 1670s. He is remembered for his popular songs and his burlesques of the serious plays of John Dryden, Thomas Shadwell, Elkanah Settle, and Sir William Davenant.By profession, Duffet was a milliner; he...
; it premiered in 1674
1674 in literature
The year 1674 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Isaac de Benserade is elected to the French Academy, along with Pierre Daniel Huet.* Thomas Ken and Izaak Walton visit Rome together.* The new Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opens in March...
, and was first printed in 1675
1675 in literature
The year 1675 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*November 11 - Gottfried Leibniz's notebooks record a breakthrough in his work on calculus.-New books:...
by the bookseller William Cademan. In creating his farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
, Duffet's target was not Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
famous play, but the adaptation of it that John Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
and Sir William Davenant
William Davenant
Sir William Davenant , also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil...
wrote in the 1660s.
Background
The first Theatre Royal, Drury LaneTheatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
burned down of 25 January 1672
1672 in literature
The year 1672 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* In London, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is destroyed by fire. The King's Company moves into the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which their rivals the Duke's Company left the previous year.* During the 1672–73 theatre...
. Its occupant, the King's Company
King's Company
The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 1660 to 1682.-History:...
, suddenly faced a major problem, and a great disadvantage compared to the rival Duke's Company
Duke's Company
The Duke's Company was one of the two theatre companies that were chartered by King Charles II at the start of the English Restoration era, when the London theatres re-opened after their eighteen-year closure during the English Civil War and the Interregnum.The Duke's Company had the patronage of...
. One way in which the King's troupe responded to their situation was by staging parodies of their rivals' popular successes. One of those successes was The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island
The Tempest (Dryden)
The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island is a comedy adapted by John Dryden and William D'Avenant from Shakespeare's comedy The Tempest. The musical setting, previously attributed to Henry Purcell, and probably for the London revival of 1712, was very probably by John Weldon.The Dryden/Davenant...
, the Dryden/Davenant adaptation that had first been staged in 1667
1667 in literature
-Events:* The Roman Catholic Church places the works of René Descartes on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.* Molière's play, Tartuffe, is banned.* Edmund Castell is imprisoned for debt....
. In 1674 that work had been mounted in a new musical or "operatic" version, prepared by Thomas Shadwell
Thomas Shadwell
Thomas Shadwell was an English poet and playwright who was appointed poet laureate in 1689.-Life:Shadwell was born at Stanton Hall, Norfolk, and educated at Bury St Edmunds School, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1656. He left the university without a degree, and...
. Duffet, a minor dramatist and songwriter, produced his lampoon before the end of that year; The Mock Tempest likely premiered on 19 November 1674. "The Design of this Play was to draw the Town from the Duke's Theatre, who for a considerable amount of time had frequented that admirable reviv'd comedy called The Tempest."
The plot
Duffet's Mock Tempest is set not in any exotic location, but securely in the London familiar to its audience — specifically the lower reaches of contemporaneous London society. The storm that opens the play, in both the Shakespeare and Dryden/Davenant versions, is replaced in Duffet's by a riot in a brothel. Mother Stephania, a bawd, leads her cohort of pimps, prostitutes, and aristocratic customers in a valiant but vain effort to drive off an assault from the town's apprentices. [For the long-running conflict between London 'prentices and sex-trade workers, see: Holland's Leaguer.] The local watch carries off all the participants to Bridewell prison (the "enchanted castle"); there, the jailkeeper Prospero Whiffe (he has a daughter named Miranda) reveals that the raid on the brothel was inspired by his ethereal spirit Ariel — a pickpocket. "There are frequent nautical metaphors, and 'more noyse and terrour than a Tempest at Sea'...."The parody goes on to mangle the romance of Dorinda and Hippolito, characters added to the original by the adaptors. Dryden and Davenant made their Hippolito and Dorinda ignorant of the opposite sex; Duffet's Dorinda and Miranda are very familiar with men, but stumble over the concept of a "husband" —
- Dorinda: Husband, what's that?
- Miranda: Why that's a thing like a man (for aught I know) with a great pair of horns upon his head, and my father said 'twas made for women, look ye.
- Dorinda: What, must we ride to water upon't, sister?
- Miranda: No, no, it must be our slave, and give us golden clothes, pray, that other men may lie with us in a civil way, and then it must father our children and keep them.
- Dorinda: And when we are so old and ugly that nobody else will lie with us, must it lie with us itself?
- Miranda: Aye, that it must, sister.
Along the way, Duffet mocks Davenant's musical adaptation of Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, staged in 1664
1664 in literature
The year 1664 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Sir William Davenant's "dramatic opera" Macbeth, adapted from Shakespeare's play, premiers on November 5....
but first printed in 1674. (Duffet also ridicules Davenent's Macbeth in his Epilogue to his burlesque of Elkanah Settle
Elkanah Settle
Elkanah Settle was an English poet and playwright.He was born at Dunstable, and entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1666, but left without taking a degree. His first tragedy, Cambyses, King of Persia, was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1667...
's The Empress of Morocco, another work of 1674.) The Duke of Mantua has a son who is a Quaker (his name is "Quakero"), allowing for comedy on that subject. And there is also "talk or enactment of drunkenness, violence, mutilation, cannibalism; of pimping, prostitution, adultery, incest; of hypocrisy, cowardice, torture, execution; of urine, vermin, venereal disease; of deviance, dissolution, and death."
The last act of Duffet's play features a parody of Ariel's song "Where the bee sucks, there suck I" from the final scene of The Tempest. Duffet's version is "Where good ale is, there suck I." The parody version was sung by Betty Mackerel, an orange vender who was promoted to the stage.
The Mock Tempest may have been revived in 1682
1682 in literature
The year 1682 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* In London, the King's Company and the Duke's Company join to form the United Company.-New books:*John Bunyan - The Holy War...
.