The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies will host a mini-symposium on John Fletcher's 1609 play, The Faithful Shepherdess next Friday, November 22 from 3 to 5:30 in 311 Denney Hall.
Though he is largely unknown to audiences today, John Fletcher was one of the most popular and successful playwrights of the English Renaissance. He took over from Shakespeare as the principal playwright of the King’s Men playing company, jointly writing three plays with Shakespeare at the end of the latter’s career between 1610-1612. The Faithful Shepherdess is among Fletcher’s earliest work, notable both for its strident policing of the pastoral mode and its definition of tragicomedy.
This symposium is being offered in concurrence with Lord Denney’s Players’ production of The Faithful Shepherdess running at the Columbus Performing Arts Center November 21-23.
Schedule
Panel: "Affect, Influences, Audiences in the Renaissance Pastoral"
3:00pm - 4:15pm
Speakers: Jonathan Combs-Schilling (OSU); Christine Varnado (U Buffalo); Sarah Neville (OSU)
Keynote: "The Faithful Shepherdess at the Blackfriars Playhouse"
4:30pm - 5:30pm
Lucy Munro (King’s College London)
In a poem that prefaces Fletcher’s The Faithful Shepherdess in its 1634 third edition, Shackerley Marmion praises the actor Joseph Taylor, who had recently brought it to the stage with his company, the King’s Men, as "thou, who first did’st give / Unto this booke a life." The fact that The Faithful Shepherdess appears to have flopped on its first performance by the Children of the Queen’s Revels in 1607-8 has dominated its critical afterlife. In contrast, Lucy Munro will reconsider the play’s theatrical ‘life’ by taking it seriously as a text for actors. In doing so, she will discuss its performance by the Queen’s Revels company and its revival by the King’s Men, both of which took place at the Blackfriars playhouse, focusing on questions of casting, gender and institutional politics.
This event is free and open to all. Co-hosted by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Lord Denney's Players and the Humanities Institute. For accommodation requests and more information, email Megan Moriarty at moriarty.8@osu.edu.
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