The Gamester (Shirley)

For other uses, see Gamester (disambiguation).

The Gamester in 1787 painted by Mather Brown. Actors are Alexander Pope, Elizabeth Younge, Mary Wells, William Farren the Elder, Thomas Hull and George Inchbald

The Gamester is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy of manners written by James Shirley, premiered in 1633 and first published in 1637. The play is noteworthy for its realistic and detailed picture of gambling in its era.

The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on 11 November 1633. In his office record book, Herbert noted that on 6 February 1634,

"The Gamester was acted at Court, made by Sherley, out of a plot of the King's, given him by me; and well liked. The King said it was the best play he had seen for seven years."[1][2]

Apart from the King's suggestion, Shirley's source for the plot of his play is the Ducento novelle of Celio Malespini.

The play was performed by Queen Henrietta's Men, both at Court and at the regular theatre, the Cockpit in Drury Lane. The 1637 quarto was printed by John Norton for the booksellers Andrew Crooke and William Cooke.

Shirley's play was a popular success in its own era, and in the next century was adapted by Charles Johnson into The Wife's Relief (1711) and J. Poole (The Wife's Stratagem, 1827).

  1. ^ Arthur Huntington Nason, James Shirley, Dramatist: A Biographical and Critical Study, New York, Columbia University Press, 1915; p. 285.
  2. ^ Kevin Sharpe, Criticism and Compliment: The Politics of Literature in the England of Charles I, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990; p. 44.