Endorsements

With its swashbuckling rendition of English heroism in the face of adversity, and a sub-plot experimenting with ideas of form that would characterise his later work, Thomas Heywood's Dick of Devonshire is a play to be played. The absence of evidence to support the occasion of any such performance, therefore, is unexpected, particularly given Heywood's contemporary theatrical success and reputation. Nevertheless, the playtext and its sole surviving textual witness offer tantalising fragments of evidence about the play and its stagecraft, both of which are explored fully in this edition. Derived from a contemporary pamphlet, Dick of Devonshire dramatises the story of Richard Pike, a foot soldier from Tavistock in Devon, captured by Spanish troops during the ill-fated Cadiz expedition of 1625. Outnumbered, and challenged by his captors to demonstrate his military prowess, Pike faces his opponents, armed with his weapon of choice, the humble quarterstaff. Through Pike's adventures, Heywood presents an alternative narrative of the otherwise disastrous Cadiz expedition, countering the tales of drunkenness and defeat that returned to England with the fleet. This Revels Plays edition is the first fully annotated, critical edition of Dick of Devonshire, and the first edition to bear Heywood's name as author. It offers scholarly discussion of the play's textual and theatrical history, placing it for the first time in the context of its newly-proven authorship, playing company, and playhouse. Along with an appendix anthologising contemporary source material, this edition provides a long overdue critical appraisal of this unjustly neglected play.