The Malcontent
Malcontent, The Author: John Marston (with John Webster)
First Performance: 1604, London
Published: 1604
Genre: Tragicom. in 5 acts with an induction; prose and blank verse
Setting: The court of Genoa, Italy, late 16th c.
Cast: 19m, 5f, extras
In the Induction, two spectators, who are eventually escorted off the stage, engage in banter with the actors and are warned not to read too much into the story about to be performed. The rightful Duke of Genoa, Altofronto, has been deposed by his brother Pietro. Altofronto returns to court disguised as a ‘malcontent’, a sarcastic jester named Malevole. The cunning courtier Mendoza, the power behind the throne, commits adultery with Pietro's wife Aurelia, daughter of the Duke of Florence, but manages to shift the blame on to a rival, who is exposed. Pietro is so...
[The entire page is 344 words long]
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