There is virtually no contemporary commentary about Thomas Middleton’s tragedy. This is surprising, given the high regard that the play enjoys amongst critics and theatre practitioners today, many of whom consider it to be amongst the playwright’s best. Textual evidence suggests that the tragedy was written around 1621, which would make it a late play in Middleton’s oeuvre; however, apart from a cursory praise in a commendatory poem by the poet and dramatist Nathaniel Richards in the first extant printed edition from 1657, there is no evidence that the play was performed until its late twentieth-century revival. A spate of high- profile productions began with one by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962 (which returned to the play in 2006); since then the play has been performed…
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Citation: Mueller-Wood, Anja. "Women Beware Women". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 February 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8851, accessed 25 November 2024.]
