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The Custom of the Country
Once famed for its obscenity, this vigorous and enjoyable play traces the fortunes of two brothers shipwrecked in a foreign land. By turns poignant and risqué, sentimental and satiraical, its beautifully crafted plot embodies the collaborative art of its authors. It was given a staged reading in 1998 as part of the Globe Education's on-going program to record with professional casts all non-Shakespearean plays of the English Renaissance.
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First published January 1, 1647
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About the author
John Fletcher
865 books20 followersborn December 1579
died August 1625
English playwright John Fletcher collaborated with Francis Beaumont on romantic comedies, including Philaster (1610) and The Maid's Tragedy (1611).
John Fletcher identified as a Jacobean. He followed William Shakespeare as house for the men of the king among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivaled that of his predecessor.
In 1606, he began to appear as an author for the Children of the Queen's Revels, then performing at the Blackfriars theater. Commendatory verses by Richard Brome in the Fletcher 1647 folio place Fletcher in the company of Ben Jonson; a comment of Jonson's to Drummond corroborates this claim, although it is not known when this friendship began. At the beginning of his career, his most important association. The two together for close to a decade, first for the children and then for the King's Men. According to a legend transmitted or invented by John Aubrey, they also lived together (in Bankside), sharing clothes and having "one wench in the house between them." This domestic arrangement, if it existed, was ended by marriage in 1613, and their dramatic partnership ended after fell ill, probably of a stroke, the same year.
Though Fletcher's reputation has been eclipsed since, he remains an important transitional figure between the Elizabethan popular tradition and the popular drama of the Restoration.
died August 1625
English playwright John Fletcher collaborated with Francis Beaumont on romantic comedies, including Philaster (1610) and The Maid's Tragedy (1611).
John Fletcher identified as a Jacobean. He followed William Shakespeare as house for the men of the king among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivaled that of his predecessor.
In 1606, he began to appear as an author for the Children of the Queen's Revels, then performing at the Blackfriars theater. Commendatory verses by Richard Brome in the Fletcher 1647 folio place Fletcher in the company of Ben Jonson; a comment of Jonson's to Drummond corroborates this claim, although it is not known when this friendship began. At the beginning of his career, his most important association. The two together for close to a decade, first for the children and then for the King's Men. According to a legend transmitted or invented by John Aubrey, they also lived together (in Bankside), sharing clothes and having "one wench in the house between them." This domestic arrangement, if it existed, was ended by marriage in 1613, and their dramatic partnership ended after fell ill, probably of a stroke, the same year.
Though Fletcher's reputation has been eclipsed since, he remains an important transitional figure between the Elizabethan popular tradition and the popular drama of the Restoration.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 20, 2015
This play is silly and fun. And there's a male brothel where the dudes just get utterly exhausted by the ladies!
August 23, 2024
The Custom of the Country has a large number of Fletcher tropes: it is a tragicomedy, so you have absolutely no idea where it's going to go next, and it goes to some truly funky places.
Starting with a couple (and his horny brother) doing a runner to avoid Droit de Seigneur from lecherous Clodio, they arrive in Lisbon, get into an accidental murder in the street (like you do), from which one brother is attemptingly seduced by the luscious Hippolita (whom he fancies like the billy-o, but he has sworn to stay chaste to Zenocia) (a great, sexy trope from Fletcher, the master of the early modern impossible sex scene), while the other brother gets employed by a male brothel and forced to sexual service sixteen women a day, until his bones are completely empty.
Meanwhile, the guy he murdered is brought back to life, but decides he's going to change his life, while brothel-brother realises he's in love with the mum of the man he murdered (like you do) and there's some high-pitched drama, and....
I mean, this is a really good Fletcher (and Massinger? according to Wikipedia): we need to get more Fletcher onstage.
Starting with a couple (and his horny brother) doing a runner to avoid Droit de Seigneur from lecherous Clodio, they arrive in Lisbon, get into an accidental murder in the street (like you do), from which one brother is attemptingly seduced by the luscious Hippolita (whom he fancies like the billy-o, but he has sworn to stay chaste to Zenocia) (a great, sexy trope from Fletcher, the master of the early modern impossible sex scene), while the other brother gets employed by a male brothel and forced to sexual service sixteen women a day, until his bones are completely empty.
Meanwhile, the guy he murdered is brought back to life, but decides he's going to change his life, while brothel-brother realises he's in love with the mum of the man he murdered (like you do) and there's some high-pitched drama, and....
I mean, this is a really good Fletcher (and Massinger? according to Wikipedia): we need to get more Fletcher onstage.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews