This "Anonymous" Guy Wrote a Lot of Stuff

Arden of Feversham, 1592 by Anonymous
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an entertaining and readable Elizabethan play. Though it's anonymous, a number of scenes are generally attributed to Shakespeare, and the change in diction in those sections is pretty striking. Seems legit.

This is based on a true story, and though it doesn't really have anyone to root for, it's still interesting and fun, in its way. The murderous Alice, trying to get rid of her controlling (and rich) husband so that she can be with her lover, is brilliant at manipulation but total shit at getting away with crimes. In fact, they're all so bad at it you wonder how they dared to enter into such ill-considered schemes, but--true story, so I guess it's what happened. One cool thing is that it's about regular people rather than kings and historical figures. It's an everyday, middle-class tragedy, unlike most tragic drama of the time.

As usual, I read from an annotated PDF made freely available at Elizabethan Drama. The notes and glosses definitely help, and I recommend it for most readers, but this is one play that can probably be read successfully without assistance.

Recommended for those who think they've read everything Shakespeare wrote. : )

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