167:. Ralph Roister Doister is encouraged throughout by a con-man trickster figure (Matthew Merrygreeke) to woo Christian Custance, but his pompous attempts do not succeed. Ralph then tries with his friends and servants (at Merrygreek's behest) to break in and take Christian Custance by force, but they are defeated by her maids and run away. The merchant Gawyn arrives shortly after and the play concludes happily with reconciliation, a prayer and a song.
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tradition. By combining the structures, conventions, and styles of the ancient Greek and Roman comedies with
English theatrical traditions and social types (especially the relatively new and burgeoning English middle classes), Udall was able to establish a new form of English comedy, leading directly
118:, and some theorise the play was intended for public performance by his pupils—who were all male, as were most actors in that period. The work was not published until 1567, 11 years after its author's death.
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Ralph
Roister Doister; Matthew Merrygreeke; Dobinet Doughty; Harpax; Christian Custance; Madge Mumblecrust; Tibet Talkapace; Annot Alyface; Trupenny; Gawyn Goodluck; Tristram Trustie; Sym Suresby; Scrivener
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The date of its composition is disputed, but the balance of opinion suggests that it was written in about 1552, when Udall was a
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Readings and stagings of the play have taken place throughout the 20th century, notably a 1910 production by the
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of the ancient Greek and Roman theatre with those of chivalric literature and the
English mediaeval theatre.
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archetype, but with the innovation of a parasitic tempter which stems from the
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The play is written in five acts. The plot of the play centres on a rich
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Roister
Doister seems to have been inspired by the works of
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before this play, the earliest of which to survive is the
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and beyond. The play blends the stock plot-elements and
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Performing Arts section, 3 September 1954: 10. Web.
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464:, edited by W. Carew Hazlitt (Project Gutenberg)
319:. Vol. LIV, no. 43. 17 November 1910
341:Chislett, William, Jr. 1914. "The Sources of
397:Plumstead, A. W. 1963. "Satirical Parody in
379:O'Brien, Angela. 2004. Ralph Roister Doister
188:Dobinet Doughtie, servant to Roister Doister
134:. The title character is a variation on the
182:Gawyn Goodluck, affianced to Dame Custance
272:The Interlude of the Student and the Girl
374:Drama in Early Tudor Britain, 1485-1558.
259:has shown, there is a rich tradition of
16:Sixteenth-century play by Nicholas Udall
99:, which was once regarded as the first
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389:." Remotegoat, 25 February 2015. Web.
376:Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
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191:Tom Trupenie, servant to Dame Custance
361:Hinton, James. 1913. "The Source of
385:Partridge, Matthew. 2015. "Review:
381:: The First Regular English Comedy.
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392:Review: Ralph Roister Doister ****
202:Harpax, servant to Roister Doister
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462:A Selection of Old English Plays
428:Early English Stages: 1300—1660.
205:Dame Christian Custance, a widow
194:Sym Suresby, servant to Goodluck
208:Margerie Mumblecrust, her nurse
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479:English Renaissance plays
413:English Moral Interludes.
372:Norland, Howard B. 1995.
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401:: A Reinterpretation."
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347:Modern Language Notes
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103:to be written in the
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403:Studies in Philology
261:medieval comic drama
255:O'Brien (2004). As
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225:Philolexian Society
219:Performance history
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323:18 March
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