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The New Inn: By Ben Jonson
The New Inn is one of the most neglected of Jonson's plays which is now finding a new and appreciative audience. May be read, according to this Editor's introduction, as a tribute to Shakespeare, and as a belated recognition that the fantasies of romance contain profound truths. The spelling has been modernised and the text updated and corrected for this paperback edition. There is also a critical introduction, helpful appendices and a commentary which explains difficult or significant passages within the play.
- GenresPlays
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 29, 2016
For early modern drama, it was quick, fun, and easy to read. Would never have picked it up if not for class, and not rushing out for more of Jonson's plays, but was pleasantly surprised that I liked it
August 12, 2023
By the time he was writing The New Inn, Ben Jonson was not at the top of his game: he'd had a stroke, since the death of King James the royal family weren't taking his calls (despite him being officially still Poet Laureate), and he was short of cash. So he ended up writing this rather strange play which he thought would restore his finances, but probably only made one performance. He blames the audience (in a very snarky afterpoem) for preferring revivals of Pericles to his work of genius, but actually this just isn't one of his best.
Spoiler alert:
the play has a Cymbeline type ending, which moves the play closer to the romance-tragicomedy form that Jonson spent much of his life railing against.
There are two scenes where the hero (?) Lovel has long speeches praising first Love, then Valour, from a Platonic perspective (I am afraid my eyes glazed over a lot in these bits, so I may be misjudging them), and the lady falls in love with him. The Oxford Edition suggests we're not supposed to take these at face value, but I'm not sure. I am prepared to concede that, live, with superb actors, these scenes may have real tension, power and comedy: on the page, they are flat.
There is a theory that artists enter their maturity in their late work, but this is (how shall I put it) a bit too mature for my tastes. I don't think it really works.
Spoiler alert:
the play has a Cymbeline type ending, which moves the play closer to the romance-tragicomedy form that Jonson spent much of his life railing against.
There are two scenes where the hero (?) Lovel has long speeches praising first Love, then Valour, from a Platonic perspective (I am afraid my eyes glazed over a lot in these bits, so I may be misjudging them), and the lady falls in love with him. The Oxford Edition suggests we're not supposed to take these at face value, but I'm not sure. I am prepared to concede that, live, with superb actors, these scenes may have real tension, power and comedy: on the page, they are flat.
There is a theory that artists enter their maturity in their late work, but this is (how shall I put it) a bit too mature for my tastes. I don't think it really works.
May 20, 2021
Not this edition.
This is absolutely Peak Ben Jonson. The fronticepiece describes it as "never acted, but most negligently play'd" at the Blackfriars Theatre, and in his prefatory material he blames the actors (bar two) and the audience. The play was a flop, but not his fault! When he published it, two years after performance (which, because of illness, he never actually saw) he added a bitter poem about how he was giving up writing for the theatre as it was beneath him.
The play is OK, though t has two scenes of inordinately long speeches about the nature and power of Love and a bunch of subplots which didn't make a lot of sense. Almost everyone seems to be in disguise at some point and the happily-ever-after is ridiculously engineered.
Read as part of the REP King's Men repertoire marathon on Zoom in the windy, wet and chill near-lockdown May of 2021.
This is absolutely Peak Ben Jonson. The fronticepiece describes it as "never acted, but most negligently play'd" at the Blackfriars Theatre, and in his prefatory material he blames the actors (bar two) and the audience. The play was a flop, but not his fault! When he published it, two years after performance (which, because of illness, he never actually saw) he added a bitter poem about how he was giving up writing for the theatre as it was beneath him.
The play is OK, though t has two scenes of inordinately long speeches about the nature and power of Love and a bunch of subplots which didn't make a lot of sense. Almost everyone seems to be in disguise at some point and the happily-ever-after is ridiculously engineered.
Read as part of the REP King's Men repertoire marathon on Zoom in the windy, wet and chill near-lockdown May of 2021.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews