R owley, W illiam

Abstract

The actor and playwright William Rowley (d.1626) is best known as the co‐author, with Thomas Middleton, of The changeling (1622), a powerful tragedy that is still frequently performed today. However, Rowley's career spanned 20 years and included plays of solo authorship in addition to other collaborative works, five of which were with Middleton, while others were with such notable playwrights as Thomas Dekker, John Fletcher, John Ford, Thomas Heywood, and John Webster. In addition, Rowley was familiar to contemporary audiences as an actor who specialized in clown roles, as well as being a leading figure in the organization of a playing company, Prince Charles's Men. His obscurity today is due in part to the collaborative nature of much of his writing, which makes it difficult to differentiate him from his fellow writers. Furthermore, even when they have been able to identify his contribution, critics have traditionally been dismissive of his work, because of Rowley's tendency to specialize in comic subplots, the perceived awkwardness of his verse, and the vulgarity of his comedy. However, these views are changing: authorship attribution studies are gradually creating a consensus about Rowley's canon that contests easy definitions of his work. He seems, for example, to have written more than half of The changeling , including not only the comic subplot, but also the much‐praised tragic climax.