The Isle of Gulls

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The Isle of Gulls (1606) is a Jacobean stage play written by John Day, which caused a scandal upon its first production.

The Isle of Gulls was written probably in 1605, and acted by the Children of the Revels at the Blackfriars Theatre in February 1606. It was published in quarto later in 1606 by John Hodges, printed by John Trundle (Q1); and again in 1633 by William Sheares (Q2).

The 1606 quarto of The Isle of Gulls was unusual in several respects. It was not licensed by the Stationers Company, as any legal publication should have been. Changes were made to the text after the press run had begun—the publisher's name was removed from the title page, and the characters of "King" and "Queen" were altered to "Duke" and "Duchess." These changes have been described as "unsurprising" in light of the play's obvious political satire.^[1]

The play, written in prose rather than verse, draws upon the Arcadia of Sir Philip Sidney for its plot. The problem arose from the play's satire on political conditions and personalities of its day. The play's Arcadians and Lacedaemonians were understood to be the English and Scots (the boy actors even used Scottish accents); and the character Damoetas represented royal favorite Sir Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset. The "Duke" wastes public funds on himself and his "Duchess," keeps corrupt counsellors and raises unworthy men to knighthood, and generally leaves the state in chaos.^[2]

The play was offensive to the new Stuart monarchy, even more so than Eastward Hoe, by Ben Jonson, John Marston, and George Chapman, had been in the previous year (1605). In the case of Eastward Hoe, Jonson and Chapman went to jail; in the case of The Isle of Gulls, some of the juvenile cast members of the Blackfriars production were incarcerated in Bridewell prison for a short time.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Colon Semenza, Sport, Politics, and Literature in the English Renaissance, p. 103.
2. ^ Colon Semenza, p. 103.

[edit] References

• Chambers, E. K. The Elizabethan Stage. 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923.
• Colon Semenza, Gregory M. Sport, Politics, and Literature in the English Renaissance. Newark, Delaware, University of Delaware Press, 2004.