Theatrical potential in the Cavalier plays of James Compton, Third Earl of Northampton

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the theatrical potential of the seventeenth-century Castle Ashby play manuscripts attributed to James Compton, Third Earl of Northampton. The manuscripts were recovered in 1977, but have not previously been seriously investigated as potential theatrical documents. However, Compton's historical significance during the Civil War, Interregnum and Restoration, his family's theatrical connections, and the theatrical potential of his available resources make politically inflected original performances—particularly in a private house—possible and intriguing. This article's author facilitated the first modern stagings of the ten plays in the collection, and those practice as research projects have informed the findings presented here. The key questions that this article seeks to address are, ‘Is anything revealed by staging these plays that argues substantially that they could or could not have been originally staged in their surviving textual condition?’ and ‘If staging seems to be implied, what are the specific minimum material features apparently demanded?’

KEYWORDS:

• Castle Ashby
• James Compton
• Cavalier drama
• Bassianus
• Mariamne
• Leontius
• Mandrake