Revisiting Shakespeares Lost Play

This collection of essays centres on Double Falsehood, Lewis Theobalds 1727 adaptation of the lost play of Cardenio, possibly co-authored by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare. In a departure from most scholarship to date, the contributors fold Double Falsehood back into the milieu for which it was created rather than searching for traces of Shakespeare in the text. Robert D. Humes knowledge of theatre history permits a fresh take on the forgery question as well as the Shakespeare authorship controversy. Diana Solomons understanding of eighteenth-century rape culture and Jean I. Marsdens command of contemporary adaptation practices both emphasise the plays immediate social and theatrical contexts. And, finally, Deborah C. Paynes familiarity with the eighteenth-century stage allows for a reconsideration of Double Falsehood as integral to a debate between Theobald, Alexander Pope, and John Gay over the future of the English drama.