A New Way to Pay Old Debts

By John Philip Kemble and Philip Massinger

Book Overview

New Mermaids are modern spelling, fully-annotated editions of important English plays. Each volume includes a critical introduction, biography of the author, discussions of dates and sources, textual details, a bibliography and information about the staging of the play.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0713637935
• ISBN13: 9780713637939
• Release Date: July 1993
• Publisher: Berg 3pl
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Funny stuff

This is more in a Jonsonian vein than Shakespearean. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Jacobian theater and culture. Because the characters are stock figures, the whole machinery of the debt and marriage systems is made transparent, provided you can see through the jokes. And speaking of jokes, I laughed out loud several times and enjoyed the parodies of some of Shakespeare's famous speeches. Sir Giles Overreach is a great villain and the naifish hero Welborne really does find a clever 'new way to pay old debts.' The introduction calls this a proto-typical debt comedy. Not having read every debt comedy, I'm willing to take Craik's word.New Mermaids does good work in terms of modernizing spelling and providing notes for those of us who aren't PhD's. People wanting an original-spelling text should go to their university's library or take a valium. Craik's introduction is brief but effective. It should be read after the play, since the play is easy enough to follow on first read with only a few recourses to the Cast List. Enjoy!