Two plays published in 1584 and both performed at Whitehall in the presence of Queen Elizabeth I. Campaspe was reprinted in 1591, but there are no records of any other performances at this time. The plays have rarely been performed since, although very recently 2017 and 2018 there were productions of Sappho and Phao. It is not difficult to see why they have remained relatively obscure, because there is very little narrative drama, hardly any action and their merits are the intricate word play of Lyly and their topicality to courtiers of Elizabeth I. The plays although performed at Blackfriars theatre as well as at Whitehall were designed and written for Elizabeth’s court and they have not travelled very well since then. In my opinion there is as much pleasure to be had from reading the text as to seeing a production on stage (if you were able to find one).

These are Lyly’s first two plays and both are original plays which have been developed from classical sources. They are written in prose form with a few songs interspersed. There are very few props needed perhaps a barrel on the stage for Campaspe and a bed for Sappho and Phao, they could be performed on a flat open space with a couple of spaces for entrances and exits. The players in Tudor times were boy actors and the audience would be seated around a rectangular hall perhaps on raised benches. Elizabeth I would have pride of place probably on a raised throne in front of the acting space. The plays were designed to appeal to a sophisticated courtly audience with a knowledge of classical literature, rhetoric and a veneration for humanistic ideals. In his prologue to a performance at Blackfriars Lyly makes it clear that his plays were not anything like the Italian renaissance comedies that were adapted by playwrights like Anthony Munday:

“Our intent was at this time to move inward delight, not outward lightness, and to breed (if it might be) soft smiling, not loud laughing knowing it to the wise to be as great pleasure to hear counsel mixed with wit as to the foolish to have sport mingled with rudeness. They were banished the theatre at Athens, and from Rome hissed, that brought parasites on the stage with apish actions, or fools with uncivil habits, or courtesans with immodist words. We have endeavoured to be as far from unseemly speeches to make your ears glow as we hope you will be from unkind reports to make our cheeks blush”

The inspiration for Campaspe comes from Plutarch’s Life of Alexander. The play opens with prisoners from the war with Thebes being presented to Alexander and two in particular the noble woman Timoclea and the lowly born but beautiful Campaspe are singled out for protection by Alexander. He falls in love with Campaspe and takes her to Apelles the most renowned painter of his generation to have a portrait made. Apelles falls in love with Campaspe and she in love with him and the issue for them both is what action Alexander will take if they dare to confess their love. Meanwhile Alexander is preparing to march into Persia in his bid to conquer the world. Alexander consults with some leading philosophers including Plato and Aristotle and the stoic Diogenes who lives in a barrel and has no respect for a soldier like Alexander. The topics of the play are of course love, particularly between high born and low born characters, morality, kingship, mercy and magnanimity and freedom. Lyly explores these ideas in his own inimitable way from many sides, sometimes in the same sentence, but his central idea is a comparison of Alexander the Great with Queen Elizabeth I.

The source for Sappho and Phao is Ovid’s Heroides, but Lily changes things around; Sappho is a queen (not a poetess) and Phao is a ferryman. The Goddess Venus makes Phao into the most desirable of men and with Cupid’s help she makes Sappho fall in love with him. Phao turns to Sibylla for advice and she warns him against being too proud. However Phao is so magnificent that Venus herself falls in love with him and she has to turn to her old lover Vulcan to make new arrows of disdain for Cupid to fire into Sappho and herself to jolt them out of love for Phao. There is also a cast of courtiers and servants to Sappho to discuss and debate issues similar to those of Campaspe. Themes concerning the behaviour of courtiers and court verses university are explored, however in this play Elizabeth I is more readily identified with Sappho and the major topic of the play is the struggle between carnal love and the need to maintain virtue. In Elizabeth’s case she was still considering the possibility of a marriage. In this play the affects of love on the central characters is explored by Lily by some witty and poignant dialogue. In both plays there are no subplots other characters are used to focus on the issues surrounding the love affairs.

Both these plays could be described as comedies (there is certainly no hint of tragedy) and they can be enjoyed as such because of the wit and word-play of John Lyly. Word-play in Lyly is highly antithetical and it gives his characters in these two plays the opportunity to explore the inherent contradictions in the human condition. His wit can certainly raise a smile and his similes and imagery can be both clever and arresting, if sometimes they need a bit of work to understand them. Of course there are double sometimes triple entendres but they are mostly subtle and need some imagination from the reader. Both plays were written to cover topical issues and so a knowledge of issues facing the Tudors is an advantage.

I read the plays in the Revels Plays series and these two had lengthy introductions by G K Hunter and David Bevington and although they date from 1988 I cannot think that they could be bettered; essential reading before launching into the text itself. There are copious notes on the same page as the text as well as a glossarial Index to the commentary. These plays will probably not make you want to rush to the theatre to see a performance, but I would not mind attending a read through, as unlikely as that might be. This whole package of Lyly’s two earliest plays I would rate as 4 stars. ( )