Richard Brome was an English dramatist of the Caroline era.

Life

Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson

Ben Jonson

Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...

's Bartholomew Fair, indicate that Brome started out as a servant of Jonson, in some capacity. Scholars have interpreted the allusions to mean that Brome may have begun as a menial servant but later became a sort of secretary and general assistant to the older playwright. A single brief mention of his family's need seems to show that he had a wife and children and struggled to support them.

He may have had some experience as a professional actor: a 1628 warrant lists him as a member of the Queen of Bohemia's Men

Lady Elizabeth's Men

The Lady Elizabeth's Men, or Princess Elizabeth's Men, was a company of actors in Jacobean London, formed under the patronage of King James I's daughter Princess Elizabeth. From 1618 on, the company was called The Queen of Bohemia's Men, after Elizabeth and her husband the Elector Palatine had...

. Yet he had already started writing for the stage by this date. An early collaboration, A Fault in Friendship (now lost) was licensed in 1623 for Prince Charles's Men

Prince Charles's Men

Prince Charles's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in Jacobean and Caroline England.-The Jacobean era troupe:...

; a 1629 solo Brome effort, The Lovesick Maid (also lost), was a success for the King's Men

King's Men (playing company)

The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare belonged through most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it became The King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron.The...

. The Northern Lass

The Northern Lass

The Northern Lass is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by Richard Brome that premiered onstage in 1629 and was first printed in 1632. A popular hit with its audience, and one of his earliest successes, the play provided a foundation for Brome's career as a dramatist.-Performance and...

(1632) was another success, and made Brome's reputation.

Due to the survival of various legal documents, much more is known about Brome's professional activities than his personal life. Once established as a dramatist, Brome wrote for all the major acting companies and theaters of his era — for the Blackfriars Theatre

Blackfriars Theatre

Blackfriars Theatre was the name of a theatre in the Blackfriars district of the City of London during the Renaissance. The theatre began as a venue for child actors associated with the Queen's chapel choirs; in this function, the theatre hosted some of the most innovative drama of Elizabeth and...

 ; for the Red Bull Theatre

Red Bull Theatre

The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the northern suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy, often disruptive audiences...

; and from 1635 onward, for the King's Revels Company and Queen Henrietta's Men

Queen Henrietta's Men

Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors in Caroline era London. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men.-Beginnings:...

 at the Salisbury Court Theatre

Salisbury Court Theatre

The Salisbury Court Theatre was a theatre in 17th-century London. It was located in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Court, which was formerly the London residence of the Bishops of Salisbury. Salibury Court was acquired by Richard Sackville in 1564; when Thomas Sackville was created Earl of Dorset...

. Brome's Sparagus Garden

The Sparagus Garden

The Sparagus Garden is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by Richard Brome. It was the greatest success of Brome's career, and one of the major theatrical hits of its period.-Performance and publication:...

was a huge success at the Salisbury Court in 1635, earning over £1000. As a result, Brome signed a three-year contract with Richard Heton, manager of the Salisbury Court, to write three plays annually at a salary of 15 shillings per week plus one day's profit per play. Brome, however, was unable to produce dramas at the promised pace; and the stipulated payments to Brome were not kept up. In need of money, Brome resorted to Christopher Beeston

Christopher Beeston

Christopher Beeston was a successful actor and a powerful theatrical impresario in early 17th century London. He was associated with a number of playwrights, particularly Thomas Heywood.-Early life:...

, actor, impresario, and owner of the Cockpit Theatre

Cockpit Theatre

The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was christened The Phoenix....

 (also known as the Phoenix) as well as the Red Bull. In August 1635 Beeston loaned Brome £6, and in return Brome committed to write Beeston a play. Heton tried to lure Brome back with a £10 payment for a new play; but they fell behind in his payments again, and Brome turned again to Beeston. Heton appealed to Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels

Master of the Revels

The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...

, to settle the dispute; Herbert decreed that Brome be paid six shillings a week and £5 for each new play, the payments to continue even when the theaters were closed.

The dispute was complicated by the fact that the theatres endured one of their longest enforced closings due to plague

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

 in this period; they were closed almost continuously from 10 May 1636 to 2 October 1637. Beeston ejected Queen Henrietta's Men

Queen Henrietta's Men

Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors in Caroline era London. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men.-Beginnings:...

 from the Cockpit Theatre in 1636, forcing that company to split up for a time. The King's Revels Men, formerly at the Salisbury Court, dissolved permanently in the crisis of the closure; but the Queen's company made a resurgence, with the help of Sir Henry Herbert, who had a financial stake in the Salisbury Court Theatre. When the plague diminished enough for performances to resume in October 1637, the re-organized Queen Henrietta's Men commenced the new season at the Salisbury Court with, it is thought, Brome's The English Moor

The English Moor

The English Moor, or the Mock Marriage is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome, noteworthy in its use of the stage device of blackface make-up...

.

When Brome's 1635 contract with Heton ended in 1638, new disputes arose among Brome, Beeston, and Heton; a bill of complaint was filed against Brome, though the outcome of the case is unknown.

It seems that once the Puritans closed the theaters in 1642, Brome struggled more severely. He may have authored an entertainment, Juno in Arcadia, which John P. Cutts has argued was performed for Queen Henrietta Maria

Henrietta Maria of France

Henrietta Maria of France ; was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I...

's arrival at Oxford in 1643. He wrote commendatory verses for the Beaumont and Fletcher First Folio (1647). In 1649–50 he edited a volume of elegies, titled Lachrymae Musarum, on the death of Henry, Lord Hastings. In 1652, in a dedication to Thomas Stanley

Thomas Stanley (author)

Sir Thomas Stanley was an English author and translator.-Life:He was born in Cumberlow, Hertfordshire, the son of Sir Thomas Stanley of Cumberlow, Hertfordshire and his wife, Mary Hammond. Mary was the cousin of Richard Lovelace, and Stanley was educated in company with the son of Edward Fairfax,...

 for a quarto edition of his A Jovial Crew, Brome described himself as "poor and proud."

Canon

The plays Brome wrote were certainly, and strongly, influenced by Jonsonian comedy (Brome was not a tragedian). He was, admittedly and unambiguously, one of the Sons of Ben

Sons of Ben

The phrase Sons of Ben is a mildly problematic term applied to followers of Ben Jonson in English poetry and drama in the first half of the seventeenth century....

. The canon of his extant plays includes:

• The City Wit
  The City Wit
  The City Wit, or the Woman Wears the Breeches is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome that is sometimes classed among his best works...
  
  , c. 1629?, revived 1637, printed 1653
• The Northern Lass
  The Northern Lass
  The Northern Lass is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by Richard Brome that premiered onstage in 1629 and was first printed in 1632. A popular hit with its audience, and one of his earliest successes, the play provided a foundation for Brome's career as a dramatist.-Performance and...
  
  , performed 1629, printed 1632
• The Queen's Exchange
  The Queen's Exchange
  The Queen's Exchange is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Richard Brome.-Publication and performance:The Queen's Exchange was first published in 1657, in a quarto issued by the bookseller Henry Brome...
  
  , c. 1629–30?, printed 1657
• The Novella
  The Novella (play)
  The Novella is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome. It was first published in the 1653 Brome collection Five New Plays, issued by the booksellers Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring.-Date and Performance:...
  
  , performed 1632, printed 1653
• The Weeding of Covent Garden
  The Weeding of Covent Garden
  The Weeding of the Covent Garden, or the Middlesex Justice of Peace, alternatively titled The Covent Garden Weeded, is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome that was first published in 1659...
  
  , performed 1633?, printed 1659
• The Sparagus Garden
  The Sparagus Garden
  The Sparagus Garden is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by Richard Brome. It was the greatest success of Brome's career, and one of the major theatrical hits of its period.-Performance and publication:...
  
  , performed 1635, printed 1640
• The Damoiselle or the New Ordinary
  The Damoiselle
  The Damoiselle, or the New Ordinary is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by Richard Brome that was first published in the 1653 Brome collection Five New Plays, issued by Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring.-Date and performance:...
  
  , c. 1638?; printed 1653
• The English Moor, or The Mock Marriage
  The English Moor
  The English Moor, or the Mock Marriage is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome, noteworthy in its use of the stage device of blackface make-up...
  
  , performed 1637, printed 1659
• The Antipodes, performed 1638, printed 1640
• A Mad Couple Well-Match'd
  A Mad Couple Well-Match'd
  A Mad Couple Well-Match'd is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome. It was first published in the 1653 Brome collection Five New Plays, issued by the booksellers Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring....
  
  , performed 1639?, printed 1653
• The Lovesick Court, or The Ambitious Politic
  The Lovesick Court
  The Lovesick Court, or the Ambitious Politique is a Caroline-era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Richard Brome, and first published in 1659.-Publication:...
  
  , registered 1640, printed 1659
• The Court Beggar
  The Court Beggar
  The Court Beggar is a Caroline era stage play written by Richard Brome. It was first performed by the acting company known as Beeston's Boys at the Cockpit Theatre. It has sometimes been identified as the seditious play, performed at the Cockpit in May 1640, which the Master of the Revels moved to...
  
  , ?1640, printed 1653
• The New Academy, or The New Exchange
  The New Academy
  The New Academy, or the New Exchange is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome. It was first printed in 1659.-Performance and publication:...
  
  , registered 1640, printed 1659
• The Queen and Concubine
  The Queen and Concubine
  The Queen and Concubine is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Richard Brome and first published in 1659. It has sometimes been called Brome's best tragicomedy.-Publication and date:...
  
  , c. 1635–39?, printed 1659
• A Jovial Crew, or the Merry Beggars
  A Jovial Crew
  A Jovial Crew, or the Merry Beggars is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome. First staged in 1641 or 1642 and first published in 1652, it is generally ranked as one of Brome's best plays, and one of the best comedies of the Caroline period; in one critic's view, Brome's The...
  
  , performed ?1641, printed 1652.

The English Moor also survives in a manuscript

Manuscript

A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

 version.

Brome collaborated with Thomas Heywood

Thomas Heywood

Thomas Heywood was a prominent English playwright, actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre.-Early years:...

 in The Late Lancashire Witches

The Late Lancashire Witches

The Late Lancashire Witches is a Caroline era stage play, written by Thomas Heywood and Richard Brome, published in 1634. The play is a topical melodrama on the subject of the witchcraft controversy that arose in Lancashire in 1633.-Performance:...

, which was acted by the King's Men and printed in 1634. The play was based on contemporary events of 1633–34.

Brome plays that have not survived include: The Lovesick Maid (1629); Wit in a Madness (?1637); The Jewish Gentleman (registered 1640); A Fault in Friendship (1623), perhaps with Jonson and another collaborator; two more collaborations with Heywood, The Life and Death of Sir Martin Skink (c. 1634) and The Apprentice's Prize (c. 1633–41); and Christianetta, or Marriage and Hanging Go by Destiny (registered 1640), possibly a collaboration with George Chapman

George Chapman

George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...

.

Alfred Harbage

Alfred Harbage

Alfred Bennett Harbage was an influential Shakespeare scholar of the mid-20th century. He was born in Philadelphia and received his undergraduate degree and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. He lectured on Shakespeare both there and at Columbia before becoming a professor at Harvard...

 has argued that two of John Dryden

John Dryden

John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...

's plays, The Wild Gallant

The Wild Gallant

The Wild Gallant is a Restoration comedy written by John Dryden. It was Dryden's earliest play, and written in prose, not verse; it was premiered on the stage by the King's Company at their Vere Street theatre, formerly Gibbon's Tennis Court, on February 5, 1663...

(1663) and The Mistaken Husband

The Mistaken Husband

The Mistaken Husband is a Restoration comedy in the canon of John Dryden's dramatic works, where it has constituted a long-standing authorship problem.-Performance and publication:...

(1674), are adaptations of otherwise-lost plays by Brome, based on the plays' internal evidence of plot and style.

In an active playwriting career of not quite fifteen years, 1629 to 1642, Brome produced about two plays a year. Judging by the overall productivity of dramatists in English Renaissance drama

English Renaissance theatre

English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...

, this appears to have been the pragmatic long-term maximum for a playwright who worked primarily as a solo artist (which in turn illustrates the impracticality of Brome's attempt to produce three plays a year).

Editions

Two important collections of Brome's works appeared in 1653 and 1659 — both, confusingly, titled Five New Plays. The 1653 edition, published by Humphrey Moseley

Humphrey Moseley

Humphrey Moseley was a prominent London publisher and bookseller in the middle seventeenth century.Possibly a son of publisher Samuel Moseley, Humphrey Moseley became a "freeman" of the Stationers Company, the guild of London booksellers, on 7 May 1627; he was selected a Warden of the Company on...

, Richard Marriot

John and Richard Marriot

John Marriot and his son Richard Marriot were prominent London publishers and booksellers in the seventeenth century. For a portion of their careers, the 1645–57 period, they were partners in a family business....

, and Thomas Dring

Thomas Dring

Thomas Dring was a London publisher and bookseller of the middle seventeenth century. He was in business from 1649 on; his shop was located "at the sign of the George in Fleet Street, near St...

, contains A Mad Couple Well-Match'd, The Novella, The Court Beggar, The City Wit, and The Demoiselle. It features an Epistle to the Readers by Alexander Brome

Alexander Brome

Alexander Brome was an English poet.He was by profession an attorney, and was the author of many drinking songs and of satirical verses in favor of the Royalists and in opposition to the Rump Parliament...

, thought to be no relation to the playwright. The 1659 volume, published by Andrew Crooke

Andrew Crooke and William Cooke

Andrew Crooke and William Cooke were London publishers of the mid-17th-century. In partnership and individually, they issued significant texts of English Renaissance drama, most notably of the plays of James Shirley....

 and Henry Brome (again, no relation), contains The English Moor, The Lovesick Court, The Weeding of Covent Garden, The New Academy, and The Queen and Concubine.

The 1653 edition also featured a portrait with a poem by Alexander Brome written in imitation of Jonson's poem on Shakespeare's

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 First Folio

First Folio

Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....

 portrait:

Reader lo heere thou will two faces finde,

One of the body, t’other of the Minde;

This by the Graver go, that with much strife

Wee thinke Brome dead, hee’s drawne so to the life

That by’s owne pen’s so ingeinoisly

That who read’s it must thinke hee ne’er shall dy

A∙ B∙

Influence

When the theaters reopened during the Restoration

Restoration comedy

Restoration comedy refers to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a renaissance of English drama...

, a handful of Brome's plays were performed and republished; the most successful was A Jovial Crew, which was acted widely and printed in 1661, 1684, and 1708. It was adapted into an opera in 1731. Other Brome plays reappeared in adapted forms. One example: The Debauchee by Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...

(printed 1677) is a rewrite of Brome's A Mad Couple Well-Match'd, down to the characters' names.

External links

• Richard Brome Online, gen. ed. Richard Cave (Sheffield: HRI Online, 2010) ISBN 978-0-9557876-1-4. Complete scholarly editions of all sixteen plays.