A Game at Chess

Thomas Middleton's notorious play, A Game at Chess, provoked a scandal when it was first performed in 1624. Through a masterly use of the metaphor of chessplay, this satire of men in high places was immediately recognized. The play was performed nine times to large theater audiences before the Privy Council closed the Globe theatre. Numerous contemporary reports and official documents relating to the scandal (printed in the appendix, some for the first time ever), provide a rich content for this fascinating political play. This Revels Plays edition presents a fully-annotated text based on close analysis of the many surviving documents and editions. The play is thoroughly contextualized within contemporary politics and theatrical history.