The Widow

by Thomas Middleton

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1616

About the author

Thomas Middleton (1580 – 1627) was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in comedy and tragedy. Also a prolific writer of masques and pageants, he remains one of the most noteworthy and distinctive of Jacobean dramatists.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bonkers, but fluffy, tale of lusty younger wife trying to cheat on her dotard of a husband but each of the men she goes for has something right going for him: one gets arrested, then develops a conscience; one turns out to be a woman.

There are some comedy singing crooks (like you do) who double in violent theft and quack medicine, and (the very much) subplot of three guys after the same rich widow, all of them pretty reprehensible and not what you would want to marry.

If you only know Middleton's hardcore violent plays, this is the other type.

Read as part of REP's 1616 season.

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great literature compared to some of Middleton's best, but good fun and I think it would have worked very well on stage, with a lot of physical, almost slapstick, comedy, cross-dressing (and cross-cross-dressing) and a lot of songs - indeed, the subplot seems mostly there for the singing.

Read as part of the "Extra Mile" online readathon of the Shakespeare Institute in the Covid-19 struck autumn of 2020.

And again in early 2026, reading the complete King's Men repertoire on Zoom. More interesting than I remembered, and very enjoyable.