A Woman Killed With Kindness

Thomas Heywood, Margaret Jane Kidnie, Margaret Jane Kidnie

• Publisher: The Arden Shakespeare
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781408151969
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Littérature
• Subtopic: Théâtre

The most studied of Thomas Heywood's plays, A Woman Killed With Kindness explores the boundaries of marital punishment and the moral weight of mercy. This major new edition of this startling domestic tragedy offers the standard, depth and range associated with all Arden editions. The on-page commentary notes explain the language, references and staging issues posed by the text while the lengthy, illustrated introduction offers a lively overview of the play's historical, performance and critical contexts. This is the ideal edition for study and performance.

A WOMAN
KILLED WITH
KINDNESS

TITLE] Q1 adding Written by Tho: Heywood; Q2 adding As it hath beene oftentimes Acted by the Queenes Maiest. Seruants. Written by THO. HEYWOOD. The third Edition.

LIST OF ROLES

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PROLOGUE
Mistress ANNE Frankford
Master John FRANKFORD	husband of Anne Frankford
Master WENDOLL	friend of John Frankford, later Anne Frankford’s lover
Master CRANWELL	friend of John Frankford	5
JENKIN	Frankford house servant, assigned to Wendoll
NICK CICELY Milkpail Spiggot the BUTLER
Jack SLIME Roger BRICKBAT		10
Joan Miniver Isabel Motley Jane Trubkin
Sir FRANCIS Acton	brother of Anne Frankford, later	15
	Susan Mountford’s husband
Master MALBY	friend of Sir Francis
Sir CHARLES Mountford
SUSAN Mountford	sister of Sir Charles
SHAFTON	duplicitous friend of Sir Charles
OLD MOUNTFORD	uncle of Sir Charles and Susan	20
SANDY	acquaintance of Sir Charles
RODER	landowner, former tenant of Sir Charles
TIDY	cousin of Sir Charles and Susan
FALCONER[S]
SHERIFF		25
KEEPER	prison-keeper at York Castle
EPILOGUE
Musicians, Huntsmen, Officers, Sergeant, Servingmen and Servants, Maid, Frankford Children, Coachman, Carters

LIST OF ROLES

1PROLOGUE This character may have appeared only once onstage in Heywood’s theatre, to advocate for the play at the first performance (Stern). The part was delivered by Jenkin at the RSC, and shared between Jenkin and Cicely at the NT in 1971; both other productions since 1971 cut the Prologue.

2Mistress ANNE Frankford ‘Anne’ is the speech prefix used in both quartos (and this edition), but there is a striking gap between reading this play and seeing it in the theatre, as the name ‘Anne’ is never heard onstage. This character is addressed in dialogue as ‘Mistress Frankford’ (this is also the preferred form in stage directions) or as ‘Nan’ (six times by her husband, and once each by her lover and brother).

3...