Robert Greene (2) (1558–1592)

“Build the Wall! Beat the Germans! Bewitch the Girl!”

Red-bearded Robert Greene (by turns profligate and penitent) seems to have been as dramatic a character in real life as any that he created for the early modern stage. Sometime after taking his BA and MA degrees at Cambridge in the early 1580’s, and before he attacked “the onely Shake-scene in a country” as “an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers,” Greene penned Pandosto (which became the source for The Winter’s Tale) and Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, his best known -- and best -- play.

Beyond these Shakespeare connections, several traits make Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay an exciting choice for modern readers and actors. Chief among them is its central theme, the powerful but dangerous attraction of unnatural knowledge, represented both as new science and ancient magic.

Greene’s play brings “magic’s secret mysteries” to the stage with spectacle galore: notably a quartet of wizards’ duels (involving the two friars Bacon and Bungay, a brace of Oxford scholars, and a German magician Vandermast) as well as a fire-breathing dragon, a necromantic golden tree, and spirits carrying away the defeated sorcerers.

At the heart of the special effects are two extraordinary stage props. One unusual prop was Friar Bacon’s “glass perspective” – perhaps a prop telescope rather than the kind of mirror featured in Richard 2 – which allows the friar to reveal far-off actions to those who come to his cell and peer into his glass. Even more spectacular was the “brazen head” breathing “flames of fire” that was featured not only in Greene’s earlier Alphonsus of Aragon but in the subsequent Friar Bacon play as well (scene 11). Henslowe’s papers indicate that the properties of the Admiral’s Men included such an “owld Mahemetes head,” likely what is pictured on the title page of the 1630 edition of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. Bacon plans to animate this mechanical marvel so that it will reveal secret wisdom, perform the feat of encircling all of England with a wall of brass, and bring undying glory and fame to Bacon and his Oxford college of Brasenose.

Greene’s double plot play features rival lovers as well as dueling magicians, and Friar Bacon’s marvels are at the center of both rivalries. By play’s end the technological wonders are shattered, as knowledge, devotion and love assume their proper places.
What makes this play an appropriate and timely choice for a revival?
- This tale of magical technology is perfectly suited for the present generation who has grown up with Harry Potter and Bill Nye.
- Greene’s play comments pointedly on the vain dream of securing a nation’s borders with a wall, and on the attempt by a government to harness the intellectual capital of the nation’s greatest universities for its own political ends.
- It also dramatizes one of the most powerful men in the realm seeking to employ the latest technological advances of his day to further his own sexual conquest.

The play begins with Prince Edward and his minions leaving court responsibilities to ride to Oxford, seeking to recruit the famous magician Friar Bacon to charm Margaret, the Fair Maid of Fressingfield in Suffolk, to succumb to Prince Edward’s love-suit. Though Bacon has more important tasks than enchanting Margaret for the prince, he does establish his potency by summoning devils and unmasking fools in disguise. Bacon’s true quest has been to command another devil to craft a brazen head that the friar will command to rear a brass wall ringing all of England and protecting it from potential invasion. When the prince arrives in Oxford, having left his favorite Lacy, the Earl of Lincoln, to woo for him in his absence, he soon discovers via the Friar’s magic glass that Lacy woos the lovely Margaret for himself and that they are shortly to be married by the rival Friar Bungay.

When the irate prince confronts Lacy and Margaret in Suffolk, they swear their eternal love to one another and both plead for their own deaths in order to save their beloved. Suddenly chastened, the royal heir Prince Edward masters his passions and magnanimously gives the couple his blessing to wed, before he speeds with Lacy to Oxford again – this time to join his father King Henry III and meet the royal bride who has been arranged for him, Princess Eleanor of Castile.

In an international wizards’ contest in Oxford, prompted by the king to demonstrate national supremacy, England’s Friar Bungay (the nation’s second best magician) conjures the golden tree of the Hesperides and the dragon protecting it; then the German champion Vandermast (the best professor of magical arts from the continent) bests Bungay by summoning Hercules to destroy Bungay’s marvelous vision. Just in time Friar Bacon, England’s true champion, appears to paralyze Hercules and command him to carry the defeated Vandermast back to Hapsburg. Then Princess Eleanor and Prince Edward declare their love at first sight, and the love-troubles seem to have vanished as surely as Bungay’s mystical golden tree.

BACK TO THE LOVE-PLOT . . . the still fair maid Margaret, now left alone in Fressingfield, is wooed by two neighboring landowners, who as rivals for her love prepare to duel. Though she remains faithful to her Lord Lacy, she receives word that Lacy has abandoned her for a new love, the chief lady in waiting to Castilian Princess Eleanor. Margaret bears this heartbreaking news as patiently as Griselda and prepares to enter a nunnery, while Friar Bacon prepares for his greatest feat, the animation of the Brazenose, aided by his assistant the poor scholar Miles.

Soon Bacon’s servant Miles gets his just deserts, and the love plots wind their way to the anticipated happy endings, both domestically and internationally, accompanied by repentance and prophecy. After another magical episode with Bacon’s perspective glass, another violent duel, and another scene of iconographic destruction, mutual harmony and appropriate order comes to court, college and country alike -- not with a magical wall separating England from Europe but with a royal marriage uniting the two realms.

The final scorecard? the wall is not built, the nation’s intellectual supremacy is proven, technological dangers are averted, and sexual conquest gives place to mutual love – all happy endings for the early modern period, and for ours.

What does this play offer for today? Reflections on the threats represented by male sexual conquest, unbridled nationalism, the building of a massive impenetrable wall to protect the homeland from invasion, unchecked technological innovations, the state’s attempt to co-opt university and church alike for its own ends . . . and alternatives to all of these vain desires. Timely indeed.… (más)

The Pleasant and Conceited comedy of [George-a-Greene: The Pinner of Wakefield]
Sometimes attributed to Robert Greene this play was seemingly written for the popular London Theatres between 1588-93. Five public performances are noted and it's survival as a print copy probably attests to its relative popularity. It is a play written to entertain: there is history, there is fighting, there is comedy, a love story and if this was not enough the legendary Robin Hood and his merry men are bolted on near the end.

The story is set in the 14th century probably in the time of Edward III and his wars with Scotland. Lord Kendal has defeated the Scots in battle, but has his eye on the English crown. He orders the town of Wakefield to supply his hungry army, but George-a-Greene refuses on behalf of the town and stands up to and then tricks the Lords into revealing their plots; finally he bests three of them in combat. His fame spreads down to London and king Edward travels in disguise to meet with the hero, meanwhile Robin Hood also not to be outdone travels to Wakefield to take on George-a-Greene in combat.

It is one of the few plays of it's time to feature a yeoman as it's hero, but the depiction of George-a-Greene would not have offended anybody at the time. George-a-Greene is loyal to his king and his country and knows his place, even when he is offered a knighthood for his services in foiling a plot against the crown, he rejects it on the grounds that his family have always been of yeoman stock and he wishes to remain a yeoman. There are plenty of opportunities for the aristocracy to disguise themselves as common folk and there are plenty of comic interludes. Nobody gets killed and it is pretty much light entertainment all the way through.

The version that has come down to us would provide a short play of something like an hour and a half. The writing is adequate and the story moves along quickly. I can't pretend it has any literary merit and there have been few attempts to play it to modern audiences. I found it quite fun to read but only rate it at 2 stars.… (más)

Robert Greene - [The Honorable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay]
Robert Greene was one of the Elizabethan University wits who needed to write stuff that would sell to put food and drink on his table. He wrote pamphlets, romantic novels, framework stories with a moral theme, social tracts and perhaps best of all a number of plays for the popular London theatres. The Honorable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay written sometime between 1589-92 was perhaps his most successful. It was popular with audiences and it brought in good gate receipts, how much money it made Greene is not known, but he died in poverty in 1592. Although Greene wrote plays to earn a living he was not the only one: Marlowe, George Peele, Thomas Kyd Anthony Munday were all in the same position, but Greene is perhaps best remembered for allegedly referring to the young Shakespeare as an "upstart Crowe, beautified with our feathers' and so unwittingly has set critics to measure his work against that of Shakespeare.

I hope that Greene did make some money from Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay because it is an excellent example of a popular play written for the Elizabethan theatre. Greene seems to have brought together elements of romance, comedy, history, and magical illusions into a winning combination. He may well have borrowed ideas from Marlowe and Kyd and imitated their high flown verse in well put together iambic pentameters, but it has a lighter touch but still carries with it a moral message to the playgoing public: "don't mess with magic"

The play opens with Prince Edward and his male courtier friends returning from a successful Hunting expedition and taking their refreshments. Prince Edward falls in lust with Margaret the fair maid of Fressingfield, but Lacy Earl of Lincoln reminds him that there are many beautiful women at court.

Lacy. I grant, my lord, the damsel is as fair
As simple Suffolk's homely towns can yield;
But in the court be quainter[179] dames than she,
Whose faces are enrich'd with honour's taint,
Whose beauties stand upon the stage of fame,
And vaunt their trophies in the courts of love.

The prince will not be denied and sets Lacy the task of spying on Margaret at the Harleston Fair and the kings Fool: Ralph Simnell reminds him that Friar Bacon will be able to assist with his magic. Friar Bacon is hard at work putting the finishing touches to his 'brazen head" a device to summon the very devils from hell and which he says will put a brass ring round all of England to protect it from it's enemies. At the fair Lacy (in disguise) finds Margaret and falls in love with her himself, but Friar Bacon with Ralph Simnell and Prince Edward disguised as each other see Lacy and Margaret through Friar bacon's magic glass. Meanwhile at the Court of King Henry Elinor of Castille has arrived for her arranged marriage with Prince Edward. Lacy has managed to get himself alone with Margaret and says he will marry her (she is the prison keepers daughter). Prince Edward vows to kill Lacy, when he sees Friar Bungay arrive to perform the ceremony. Friar Bacon summons a devil who carries away Friar Bungay on his back. Prince Edward confronts Lacy and says he will kill him , Margaret pleads for Lacy's life and eventually Prince Edward realises that the right thing to do would be to sanction the lovers marriage. The emperor of Germany arrives with his magician Vandermast to challenge Friar Bacon, but Bacon easily defeats him with his power now so great that he commands the very devils from hell. Lacy sends a message to Margaret saying he is betrothed to a court lady and two former suitors fight a duel over Margaret with Friar Bacon unable to stop them: they kill each other. Friar Bacon is worried about the state of the Brazen Head but cannot keep awake and so he instructs his assistant Miles to wake him if there are developments. Miles doesn't wake him when the Brazen Head speaks and is later carried off to Hell. Friar Bacon repents and says he will spend the rest of his life asking for forgiveness - no more magic. Meanwhile Margaret is summoned to the Kings court to marry Lacy and Prince Edward marries Elinor.

Greene's play is loosely based on history with Friar Bacon a representation of Roger Bacon the 13th century monk who some recognised as a wizard. Much of the drama of the play is centred around Friar Bacon and his making of the Brazen Head. The most dramatic scene takes place in Bacon's cell when the Brazen Head speaks out the words Time is, (pause) Time was (pause) Time past and Miles fails to wake up his master in time to stop the destruction of the head.

The Romance is between Earl Lacy and the commoner Margaret with Prince Edward threatening to destroy them both. Edwards speech owes much to Christopher Marlowe; just about keeping on the right side of parody:

P. Edw. I tell thee, Peggy, I will have thy loves:
Edward or none shall conquer Margaret.
In frigates bottom'd with rich Sethin planks,
Topt with the lofty firs of Lebanon,
Stemm'd and encas'd with burnish'd ivory,
And overlaid with plates of Persian wealth,
Like Thetis shalt thou wanton on the waves,
And draw the dolphins to thy lovely eyes,
To dance lavoltas[207] in the purple streams:
Sirens, with harps and silver psalteries,
Shall wait with music at thy frigate's stem,
And entertain fair Margaret with their lays.
England and England's wealth shall wait on thee;
Britain shall bend unto her prince's love,
And do due homage to thine excellence,
If thou wilt be but Edward's Margaret.

But Prince Edward relents after Lacy has said he would rather the Prince kill him and Margaret says she will die too.

Conquering thyself, thou gett'st the richest spoil.—
Lacy, rise up. Fair Peggy, here's my hand:
The Prince of Wales hath conquer'd all his thoughts,

This part of the play generates some real tension as the Prince battles with himself over Margaret, but she is not out of the woods as she is tested again by Lacy later in the play when the audience realises that he would be sacrificing much by marrying a commoner.

Magic: black magic gives the play an abundance of spectacle with the conjuring competition between Friar Bacon and Vandermast when the spirit of Hercules is summoned and then the destruction of the Brazen Head and the appearance of the devils in the street carrying away Miles and transporting Friar Bungay. While Greene writes these scenes with a comedic element they may well have frightened an Elizabethan audience. Greene was one of the better writers of comedy and he has plenty of opportunities in the play to put his art to good use. Ralph Simnell the kings fool disguised as Prince Edward creates havoc wherever he goes as does Friar Bacon's assistant Miles.

The play might not have the depth of Shakespeares and Marlowe's plays of the same period and the verse might be inferior or not quite reaching the heights of those other two playwrights. The structure is a little simple with most of the action taking place as a direct result of what has happened in the previous scene and after Act 3 many of the issues appeared to be resolved and the play needs to spring back into life for the final two acts. I get the feeling it does this because Greene had a message to deliver that would hit home with his audience and give them something to think about after they had enjoyed the comedy and the romance and the spectacle. He wanted to play on their fears of witches and devils and some of the humour would be black with the audience laughing but being a little scared at the same time: the moral was do not play with magic or other forces that you do not understand. A play then very much of it's time which also has things to say about 'the great chain of being' for example people marrying outside of their allotted rank and people disguised as their betters or their servants; the audience would be well aware of the Elizabethan sumptuary laws.

I enjoyed this play it has many bright moments even for the modern reader and so anybody with an interest in the Elizabethan theatre and it's plays might well enjoy this: 4 stars.… (más)

Robert Greene The Comical History of Alphonsus king of Aragon
The History of Orlando Furioso
The Scottish History of James IV
Three plays by Robert Greene probably written between 1588 and 1592. It is thought he turned his hand to writing plays after witnessing the success of Marlowe's Tamburlaine and Kyd's Spanish Tragedy. John Clarke Jordan says that Greene turned his hand towards anything that might sell and previous to his career as a dramatist he had written pamphlets, romantic novels, framework stories taken from the Italian renaissance, usually with with a moral theme, prodigal son stories with a religious theme and social tracts warning citizens to beware of confidence tricksters. Looking back at Greene some might say that he was little more than a money driven hack, his vast output in different genres would seem to have resulted in much slapdash work. There is no denying that his output was uneven, but he was not a poor writer and amongst his more forgettable works there are some gems and I think that these three plays prove the point. Alphonsus king of Aragon is structurally suspect and lacks Greenes usual humour and satire. Orlando Furioso is a dramatisation of part of Ariosto's great romance and adds nothing to the original, however The Scottish History of James IV is something else entirely, an original play with good characters based on recent and current history and containing some of Greene's best humorous writing. Greene perhaps always wanted to prove himself as a writer, wanted critical acclaim and this play written right at the end of his life was perhaps his best shot.

The Comical History of Alphonsus king of Aragon was perhaps an imitation of Marlowe's Tamburlaine. Greene however was more intent in providing a spectacle than a study of one man's lust for power. Alphonsus feels his father has been cheated out of his kingship and vows to regain the throne. His early success leads to various kings either supporting him or betraying him and there is much changing of sides. The disturbances attract the attention of Amurack the Turk a fearsome warrior in his own right and the second half of the play switches to his preparations to take on Alphonsus. Medea charms the gathering of warrior kings who support Amurack and summons Calchus an auger from his grave. Amurack dreams that he is defeated by Alphonsus and that his daughter Iphegenia has fallen in love with Alphonsus. He awakens and banishes Iphegenia with her mother Fausta. Medea searches them out and tells them that Amurack neds their help:

MEDEA: In vain it is to strive against the stream:
Fates must be followed, and the God's decree
Must needs take place in every kind of cause.
Therefore, fair maid, bridle these brutish thoughts,
And learn to follow what the fates assign.

A brazen head appears to a couple of priests and claims to be the voice of Mahomet and tells them to ensure that there is support for Amurack who is on his way to Naples to meet Alphonsus. Meanwhile Alphonsus father also has a vision and the play switches back to Alphonsus, but by this time the audience will have spent too long away from Alphonsus.

As can be imagined there is plenty of opportunity for Greene to stage his spectacle and he does this right from the start with a framing device where the goddess Venus descends onto the stage to set the scene. There is the summoning of Calchus from his grave and the appearance of the brazen head with the voice of the Prophet. Act II featuring Alphonsus' conquests is all action and there is the climactic battle scene at the end. The play might have provided plenty of entertainment, but reading it today it all feels disjointed although Greene's ability to tell a story keeps it moving along.

The History of Orlando Furioso is a strange concoction. A mixture of adventure and comedy, unfortunately Greene decided to depict the part of the story where Orlando goes insane as comedy, losing much of it's dramatic force. There are plenty of references back to Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and so the playgoer may well have wished he was more in tune with a knowledge of classical literature. The use of iambic pentameters is skilfully done with the text reverting back to prose for the period of Ariosto's insanity. There is some evidence of satire when Orlando is described as a poet and therefore must be insane. All in all this seems to have been a play for the university wits rather than the ordinary London theatregoer. It was performed at the court of Queen Elizabeth.

The Scottish History of James IV
Music playing within, enter ASTER OBERON, King of Fairies; and Antics,
who dance about a tomb placed conveniently on the stage; out of the which
suddenly starts up, as they dance, BOHAN, a Scot, attired like a ridstall
man, from whom the Antics fly. OBERON manet.

A ridstall man risen from the grave and Greene uses this as a framing device and also to provide dumb shows in the intervals between the acts of his play. Bohan was a courtier at King James court and says that his sons have shut him up in this tomb. He procedes to tell Oberon his story of dastardly deeds at king James court. A stunning opening to the play that held my attention throughout. Bohan tells of the peace brought to the two kingdoms (England and Scotland) by the marriage of Dorothea daughter of the English king to the young King James. The young king however is a lustful youth and during the wedding ceremony he spies Ida daughter of the Countess of Aran. He must have her and comforts himself with the thought that as king his subjects must obey his will. A scholar: Ateukin spots the kings lustful looking and offers his services in procuring Ida. He visits her at the home of the Countess of Aran and unexpectedly meets a virtuous young woman who says she would rather die than be a concubine to the king. The Countess cannot persuade her daughter to go to the king and so Ateukin has to go back to the king empty handed. The king is not pleased and Ateukin suggests that if he were not married he is sure that Ida would be his queen. The solution is to do away with Dorothea. The Scottish nobles soon get wind of what is going on and many of them drift away from court to show their disapproval. They tell Dorothea that she may be in danger but she says she will not leave her young husband. However when she is shown the kings warrant for her murder she agrees to flee dressed as a man. She is pursued by an assassin (the frenchman Jaques) who wounds her badly, she is rescued by a Scottish nobleman meanwhile the English king believing that his daughter has been murdered has invaded Scotland and put 7000 Scots to death. A fully recovered Dorothea must decide where her duty lies, to her young Scottish husband or to her father.

It is a good story that would have been highly topical to the London Crowd in the 1590's. James VI was on the throne in Scotland and he was young and untested and had surrounded himself with his young friends, the importance to England was that he was the logical successor to the English Queen Elizabeth who was without children herself. The succession had been a huge issue throughout Elizabeths reign and so Greene had hit upon a story that would have resonated with the English public, although he had made up the story about the earlier James IV his play would have seemed prescient.

My first thoughts about the play was that it read very well with some good speeches. it is written in iambic pentameters with some rhymed line endings, it flows very well and the storytelling is well handled without any obvious loose ends. The female characters Dorothea, Ida, and the Countess of Arran are particularly strong. It is a play that does not take itself too seriously and Greene intersperses nearly every dramatic scene with some comedy and he is on top form here with Bohan's sons Slipper and the dwarf Nando providing most of the laughs. There is also Oberon king of the fairies and his antics to lighten the mood. Ateukin is the scheming presence at the king's court, a skilled sycophant rather than malevolently evil. When he cannot deliver Ida to the king he has to arrange Dorothea's murder to save himself.

There is not only good writing here, but also innovation. Greene several times uses a split stage technique with two groups of people conferring on different issues unaware perhaps of the conversation in the other group that might concern them. For example Dorothea is exchanging witticisms with the dwarf Nando on one area of the stage while the nobles in another corner are worrying about the threat to Dorothea from the king, Greene skilfully brings these two groups together seamlessly. The dialogue crackles: here is Ida squaring up to up to Ateukin:

Ida. Better, than live unchaste, to lie in grave.

Ateu. He shall erect your state, and wed you well.

Ida. But can his warrant keep my soul from hell?

Ateu. He will enforce, if you resist his suit.

And here is a witty speech by Sir Cuthbert, using anthropomorphism to tell his version of events:

Sir Cuth. I see you trust me, princes, who repose
The weight of such a war upon my will.
Now mark my suit. A tender lion's whelp,
This other day, came straggling in the woods,
Attended by a young and tender hind,
In courage haught, yet 'tirèd like a lamb.
The prince of beasts had left this young in keep,
To foster up as love-mate and compeer,
Unto the lion's mate, a neighbour-friend:
This stately guide, seducèd by the fox,
Sent forth an eager wolf, bred up in France,
That grip'd the tender whelp and wounded it.
By chance, as I was hunting in the woods,
I heard the moan the hind made for the whelp:
I took them both and brought them to my house.
With chary care I have recur'd the one;
And since I know the lions are at strife
About the loss and damage of the young,
I bring her home; make claim to her who list.

My only criticism of the play is that Greene seems to have thrown everything, but the kitchen sink into this play; there is pathos, there is suspense, there are dumb shows organised by Oberon and there are some moralising speeches thrown in for good measure. Then there is the comedy; perhaps a bit too much comedy with Bohans sons easily flitting between the world of Oberon, Bohan and the fairies and the complicated reality of the Scottish kings court, they are never lost for a witty remark. None of this stops the onward progression of the storytelling.

Greene's plays have rarely been performed in the modern era, but I can see some potential in this play. Male actors would have great fun with the comedy and the strong female characters would carry this play along. Witty, inventive even innovative, this makes it a 4.5 star read.… (más)