The Masks of Cupid and Death

Dundas, Judith

doi:10.1353/cdr.1995.0038

Comparative Drama

1995

DOI: 10.1353/cdr.1995.0038

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The Masks of Cupid and Death

Judith Dundas¹

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Cited by 2 publications

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“…Shirley probably needed to supplement his income as best he could by this time; the closing of the theatres must have been a severe blow to him and he accumulated an income as best he could after 1642, following a variety of professions, teaching, serving in the army in the civil war, and aiding Ogilby with his classical translations (Clark, n.d.). Shirley was able to stage masques for the Cromwellian regime, most significantly Cupid and Death performed for the visit of the Portuguese ambassador in 1653 and the private entertainment, The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses , performed some time between 1654 and 1658 (Clark, n.d.; Dundas, ; Shirley, ; Shirley, ).…”

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Culture and anarchy in mid‐seventeenth‐century Ireland: The strange case of James Shirley at Werburgh Street

Hadfield

2018

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In this essay, I will explore the work of James Shirley as the first incumbent English playwright in Ireland. I will look at the reasons why Shirley might have gone to Ireland and what his prolonged, not always happy, time in Dublin tells us about the state of Anglo-Irish theatre and the relationship between the metropolitan and colonial capitals. I will argue that Shirley's drama was shaped by the conflicting forces of the Dublin theatre. He was expected to establish English civility but also had to appeal to an audience which needed to be entertained. He was chosen because he was successful, but the prologues to his plays suggest that he felt much more of a failure. He had an ostensibly hostile attitude to his audience-which may not have helped his popularity-but produced works which engaged with contemporary concerns in an oblique manner. There have been numerous studies of English writers in Ireland, and perhaps more work needs to be carried out in other areas if we want to increase our understanding of early modern Ireland, rather than this relatively exhausted field. But if any major English writer still has anything to reveal about the Irish culture in which he worked, it is surely Shirley.Given that so much is hidden from view, confusing and invariably mysterious James Shirley's years in Ireland are often written about with a definitive confidence. Shirley went to Ireland in 1636, persuaded by his friend and collaborator, John Ogilby (1600-1676), the Scots writer, theatre impresario, and dancing master (Clark, n.d.). Ogilby was made the Irish Master of the Revels by Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford, who seems to have thought that a good theatrical tradition would help him establish rule in Ireland and would cement the often uneasy alliance of New English officials and Old English Dubliners (Fletcher, 2000, pp. 261-271). Strafford was very keen on drama, planning

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Culture and anarchy in mid‐seventeenth‐century Ireland: The strange case of James Shirley at Werburgh Street

Hadfield

2018

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Love, sex and death inRomeo and Juliet

MacKenzie¹

2007

English Studies

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The Masks of Cupid and Death

Cited by 2 publications

References 7 publications

Culture and anarchy in mid‐seventeenth‐century Ireland: The strange case of James Shirley at Werburgh Street

Culture and anarchy in mid‐seventeenth‐century Ireland: The strange case of James Shirley at Werburgh Street

Love, sex and death inRomeo and Juliet

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