A Game at Chess

by Thomas Middleton, T.H. Howard-Hill (Editor)

Thomas Middleton's notorious play, A Game at Chess, provoked a scandal when it was first performed in 1624. Through a masterly use of the metaphor of chessplay, this satire of men in high places was immediately recognized. The play was performed nine times to large theater audiences before the Privy Council closed the Globe theatre. Numerous contemporary reports and official documents relating to the scandal (printed in the appendix, some for the first time ever), provide a rich content for this fascinating political play. This Revels Plays edition presents a fully-annotated text based on close analysis of the many surviving documents and editions. The play is thoroughly contextualized within contemporary politics and theatrical history.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Classics, 17th Century

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1624

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

[c. · Rating 3 out of 5]

small brain - a game at chess is about the british empire's fear of other nations
medium brain - a game at chess is about protestant anxiety in response to possible catholic infringement on british social / political / religious life
expanding brain - a game at chess is about the hypocrisy of the catholic church with regards to its views on salvation prior to death, which is unintelligible to protestant christians (who believe that their fate is predetermined and unchangeable)
cosmic brain - a game at chess is a treatise on anal fissures

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you know your seventeenth-century Anglo-Spanish religio-political battles (not to mention what was going on in Europe with what was left of the Holy Roman Empire), and can suss your way through a good allegorical game of chess, this the the play for you. My enjoyment of Thomas Middleton grows exponentially (Revenger's Tragedy, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, The Roaring Girl, Women Beware Women, The Changeling ... it goes on and on).

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not actually this edition - we used one edited by Gary Taylor.

An astonishing play - Middleton meets Pirandello, you could say. It ran for nine consecutive performance days (that is, not Sunday) and there were even two shows on some days. It's a satire on the potential Spanish marriage of Charles (about to be Charles I) (he blew it), but expressed as a literal chess game, with all the characters chess pieces of either Black (= Spanish = wicked) or White (= English = Good) - yes, that simplistic. There's a vicious representation of Gondomar, the Spanish Ambassador, who protested and had the whole thing shut down, and other characters represent real people too. From the nine days they seem to have made a comfortable equivalent in modern terms of about £18k apiece, not bad for just over a week, but there was a huge political kerfuffle after it.

Read with great enjoyment as part of the REP online redathon of the King's Men repertoire in the slightly less gloomy March of lockdown 2021.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly well written. I expected it to be an easy beach read, and it’s actually really well done. I can see why it takes Martin so long to write these books. I really hope he finishes the series.

[Aedan Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

supposedly Middleton was inspired by the Queen's Gambit? Could just be hearsay.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very confusing play at first but once you get into it very enjoyable. The book also had a very insightful and helpful introduction to the play.

[Remy DeJoseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5! Early Modern Isekai

[Sara]

I think one thing we should've talked about in class that would've helped me understand this play better is Early Modern culture surrounding castration.