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'I know the trade: I learned it when I was in Wittenberg' Thus speaks Lacy, the gentleman who disguises himself as a simple shoemaker in order to win his true love, the grocer's daughter Rose. The Shoemaker's Holiday is one of the most engaging citizen comedies of the 17th century... Read Full Overview

Thomas Dekker's singular comic drama, The Shoemakers' Holiday moves through the urban landscape of 16th century apprenticeships and artisan production in this tale of thwarted marriages and class division. Simon Eyre and his rags to riches journey to becoming the city's... Read Full Overview

'I know the trade: I learned it when I was in Wittenberg'

Thus speaks Lacy, the gentleman who disguises himself as a simple shoemaker in order to win his true love, the grocer's daughter Rose. The Shoemaker's Holiday is one of the most engaging citizen... Read Full Overview

The Shoemakers' Holiday, or the Gentle Craft is an Elizabethan play written by Thomas Dekker. First performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men, it falls into the subgenre of city comedy. The play was first published in 1600 by the printer Valentine Simmes.

Elizabethan comedy (1599) by Shakespeare's contemporary

A modern critical edition of this rollicking, yet tender, comedy about the trials of young love.It offers a careful comparison of the three earliest texts of the play, but the spelling and punctuation are 20th-century American.

Thomas Dekker's singular comic drama, The Shoemakers' Holiday moves through the urban landscape of 16th century apprenticeships and artisan production in this tale of thwarted marriages and class division. Simon Eyre and his rags to riches journey to becoming the city's... Read Full Overview

Written and first performed in 1599, The Shoemaker's Holiday was the most popular non-Shakespearean comedy of its day-a hearty brew of character and overflowing good humor, occasionally ribald, about the gentle craft of shoemaking. Bernard Sahlins's new adaptation streamlines... Read Full Overview

Bernard Sahlin's new adaptation streamlines the dialogue for contemporary audiences and makes this play extremely playable.

Bernard Sahlin's new adaptation streamlines the dialogue for contemporary audiences and makes this play extremely playable.

Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday is one of the most popular of Elizabethan plays, entertaining, racy and vivid in its characterisation. Revealing a vital portrait of Elizabethan London and the interaction of social classes within the city, its social commentary is on the... Read Full Overview

The Shoemakers Holiday is a comedy play written by Thomas Dekker and originally published in 1600. The play tells the story of Simon Eyre, a shoemaker who rises to the position of Lord Mayor of London. Along the way, he falls in love with a noblewoman named Jane, and the two... Read Full Overview