The Travels of the Three English Brothers
Encyclopedia
The Travels of the Three English Brothers is an early Jacobean era stage play, an adventure drama written in 1607
by John Day
, William Rowley
, and George Wilkins
. The drama was based on the true-life experiences of the three Shirley brothers, Sir Anthony Shirley
, Sir Thomas Shirley
, and Robert Shirley
(later Sir Robert). The play illustrates the trend toward extreme topicality in some works of English Renaissance drama
.
on June 8, 1607, and was published soon after. The play was entered into the Register less than two months later, on June 29 on that year. This suggests that the three playwrights may have put the drama together in the space of about six weeks.
. Its July 29 Register entry states that the play was performed at the Curtain Theatre
, though this information is likely inaccurate; The Queen's company is thought to have moved on to the Red Bull Theatre
in 1604 or 1605. Francis Beaumont
's The Knight of the Burning Pestle
, also of 1607, refers to The Travels as a Red Bull play.
by the bookseller John Wright. Wright published the quarto in two states: the second added an Epistle addressed to the Shirley family. The work's topicality may have won it quick success, though that success was not enduring: the 1607 quarto was the only edition of the play in the seventeenth century. (The playwrights suffered the trap of the topical approach: their material was so current that they did not yet have an end to their story. Their version was soon outdated by further events and later printed accounts.)
on Pericles, Prince of Tyre
around 1607, the question of his participation in this collaboration has drawn the attention of some Shakespeare scholars. Wilkins probably wote about three-fifths of The Travels.
(H. Dugdale Sykes, employing a 13-scene scheme for the play, assigned the Prologue to Day, the Epilogue to Day and Wilkins; he alloted scenes 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, and the start of 13 to Wilkins; he gave scene 3 to Day, and the remainder, scenes 1, 7, 9, 11, and the end of 13, to Day or Rowley. Sykes's breakdown resembles the conclusions of other researchers.)
Beyond the sheer entertainment value of the Shirleys' story, the dramatists were eager to draw cultural contrasts between Christian England and Muslim Persia, the key locale of much of the Shirley saga. Their play stresses the violence and brutality of Persian society (especially the practice of beheading) as a blatant discriminator between Persia and England. The English display their valor and resourcefulness when assaulted by violence and treachery; when an unarmed Sir Thomas Shirley is attacked by four Turks, he defends himself with rocks. The splendid English move the Persian "Sophy" (the play's version of the Shah) to verbal raptures — and inspire him to grant Christians tolerance in his dominions.
appears in one scene. Himself noted for his travels, Kempe is shown in Venice
, where he has a bawdy exchange with a Signor Harlakin (that is, harlequin
) and his wife. Kempe reportedly met Sir Anthony Shirley in Rome
; but whether this Venetian scene with Kempe is based on anything more substantial that the playwrights' imaginations is uncertain.
includes it in his Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
. Though the perspective glass operates thaumaturgically rather than technologically, it nonetheless provides a striking anticipation of modern communications.
1607 in literature
The year 1607 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 2 - The King's Men perform Barnes's The Devil's Charter at Court.*June 5 - John Hall marries Susanna, daughter of William Shakespeare....
by John Day
John Day (dramatist)
John Day was an English dramatist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Life:He was born at Cawston, Norfolk, and educated at Ely. He became a sizar of Caius College, Cambridge, in 1592, but was expelled in the next year for stealing a book...
, William Rowley
William Rowley
William Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...
, and George Wilkins
George Wilkins
George Wilkins was an English dramatist and pamphleteer best known for his probable collaboration with Shakespeare on the play Pericles, Prince of Tyre. By profession he was an inn-keeper, but he was also apparently involved in criminal activities.-Life:Wilkins was an inn-keeper in Cow-Cross,...
. The drama was based on the true-life experiences of the three Shirley brothers, Sir Anthony Shirley
Anthony Shirley
Sir Anthony Shirley was an English traveller, whose imprisonment in 1603 by King James I was an important event because it caused the British House of Commons to assert one of its privileges—freedom of its members from arrest—in a document known as The Form of Apology and Satisfaction.He was the...
, Sir Thomas Shirley
Thomas Shirley
Sir Thomas Shirley was an English adventurer.The son of Sir Thomas Shirley and elder brother of Sir Anthony Shirley, he was educated at Hart Hall, Oxford. He served in the English forces in the Low Countries, and was knighted in 1589 while serving in Ireland under Sir William Fitz-William...
, and Robert Shirley
Robert Shirley
Sir Robert Shirley was an English traveler and adventurer, younger brother of Sir Anthony Shirley and of the adventurer Sir Thomas.-Diplomatic Activities:Robert went with his brother Anthony to Persia in 1598...
(later Sir Robert). The play illustrates the trend toward extreme topicality in some works of English Renaissance drama
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
.
Date and Source
The play was based on an account of the Shirleys' travels by Anthony Nixon, published in pamphlet form and titled The Three English Brothers. (The Shirley brothers had been the subjects of two previous pamphlets, in 1600 and 1601; but Nixon's work is thought to have been backed by the Shirley family.) The pamphlet was entered into the Stationers' RegisterStationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England...
on June 8, 1607, and was published soon after. The play was entered into the Register less than two months later, on June 29 on that year. This suggests that the three playwrights may have put the drama together in the space of about six weeks.
Performance
The play was acted by Queen Anne's MenQueen Anne's Men
Queen Anne's Men was a playing company, or troupe of actors, in Jacobean era London. -Formation:...
. Its July 29 Register entry states that the play was performed at the Curtain Theatre
Curtain Theatre
The Curtain Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Curtain Close, Shoreditch , just outside the City of London. It opened in 1577, and continued staging plays until 1622....
, though this information is likely inaccurate; The Queen's company is thought to have moved on to the Red Bull Theatre
Red Bull Theatre
The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the northern suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy, often disruptive audiences...
in 1604 or 1605. Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher....
's The Knight of the Burning Pestle
The Knight of the Burning Pestle
The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a play by Francis Beaumont, first performed in 1607 and first published in a quarto in 1613. It is notable as the first whole parody play in English...
, also of 1607, refers to The Travels as a Red Bull play.
Publication
The Travels was printed in the same year it appeared onstage, apparently to capitalize on its popularity. The text was issued in a quartoBook size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
by the bookseller John Wright. Wright published the quarto in two states: the second added an Epistle addressed to the Shirley family. The work's topicality may have won it quick success, though that success was not enduring: the 1607 quarto was the only edition of the play in the seventeenth century. (The playwrights suffered the trap of the topical approach: their material was so current that they did not yet have an end to their story. Their version was soon outdated by further events and later printed accounts.)
Authorship
The triple authorship of The Travels is not in doubt; the three dramatists are credited by name on the title page, and all three signed the prefatory Epistle to the Shirleys. And it would likely have taken more than one or two writers to produce an actable play in a short period of time. Scholars have made attempts to differentiate the respective shares of the three authors. Since George Wilkins is thought by some to have worked with ShakespeareWilliam 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"...
on Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio...
around 1607, the question of his participation in this collaboration has drawn the attention of some Shakespeare scholars. Wilkins probably wote about three-fifths of The Travels.
(H. Dugdale Sykes, employing a 13-scene scheme for the play, assigned the Prologue to Day, the Epilogue to Day and Wilkins; he alloted scenes 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, and the start of 13 to Wilkins; he gave scene 3 to Day, and the remainder, scenes 1, 7, 9, 11, and the end of 13, to Day or Rowley. Sykes's breakdown resembles the conclusions of other researchers.)
Genre
The Travels of the Three English Brothers belongs to a genre of traditional, popular, and somewhat naive drama of adventure and romance that was typified by the plays of Thomas Heywood and his many compatriots. (Concern with accuracy and veracity was not part of the ethos of this popular drama, and the three authors show no such concern in The Travels.) More sophisticated writers of the early Jacobean period looked down of this popular drama; Beaumont was mocking The Travels when he referred to it in Knight of the Burning Pestle, IV,i,33-5.Beyond the sheer entertainment value of the Shirleys' story, the dramatists were eager to draw cultural contrasts between Christian England and Muslim Persia, the key locale of much of the Shirley saga. Their play stresses the violence and brutality of Persian society (especially the practice of beheading) as a blatant discriminator between Persia and England. The English display their valor and resourcefulness when assaulted by violence and treachery; when an unarmed Sir Thomas Shirley is attacked by four Turks, he defends himself with rocks. The splendid English move the Persian "Sophy" (the play's version of the Shah) to verbal raptures — and inspire him to grant Christians tolerance in his dominions.
Kempe
In addition to other real-life figures in the cast of characters (including the Pope), the comic Will KempeWilliam Kempe
William Kempe , also spelt Kemp, was an English actor and dancer specializing in comic roles and best known for having been one of the original players in early dramas by William Shakespeare...
appears in one scene. Himself noted for his travels, Kempe is shown in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, where he has a bawdy exchange with a Signor Harlakin (that is, harlequin
Harlequin
Harlequin or Arlecchino in Italian, Arlequin in French, and Arlequín in Spanish is the most popularly known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte and its descendant, the Harlequinade.-Origins:...
) and his wife. Kempe reportedly met Sir Anthony Shirley in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
; but whether this Venetian scene with Kempe is based on anything more substantial that the playwrights' imaginations is uncertain.
The "perspective glass"
The final scene in The Travels of the Three English Brothers contains a noteworthy feature: the three Shirley brothers and their father, widely separate geographically, see and speak with each other through a magical device called a "perspective glass." This device is part of the traditional lore of magic, and occurs in other contexts: Robert GreeneRobert Greene (16th century)
Robert Greene was an English author best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit, widely believed to contain a polemic attack on William Shakespeare. He was born in Norwich and attended Cambridge University, receiving a B.A. in 1580, and an M.A...
includes it in his Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
The Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written by Robert Greene. Widely regarded as Greene's best and most significant play, it has received more critical attention than any other of Greene's dramas.-Date:The date of authorship of Friar...
. Though the perspective glass operates thaumaturgically rather than technologically, it nonetheless provides a striking anticipation of modern communications.