The Revenger's Tragedy

The Revenger's Tragedy (1607) shows a brilliant court culture against asombre background; although fashionably Italianate in appearance, theplay is concerned with substantial issues in the Britain of King JamesI. The new king's court became notorious for luxuriousness, spectacularmasques and torchlight revels; and poets and playwrights attacked therumoured sexual and political corruption in high places. By 1607revenge tragedy had already developed as a hybrid form incorporatingcomplex intrigue plots and elements of farce, including, as here,elements of horror. The hero Vindice is eloquent and engagingly witty;but as a poet he sees the skull beneath the skin, and as a revenger hecarries out some of the cruellest killings in all English Renaissancetragedy. As the introduction demonstrates, the play proves highlysuccessful in present-day performance, both professional and amateur,and in a variety of period settings.