A Trick To Catch the Old One

Author(s): Middleton, Thomas
Note: Date of first performance from Wiggins, vol. 5, p. 208.
Date of composition:
  • 1605 (best guess, Wiggins, vol. 5, p. 205)
  • 1604 -1606 (Wiggins, vol. 5, p. 205)
Date of first performance: 1605 - 1606 approx.
Date of first publication: 1608
Genre (Annals): Comedy

Catalogue references: Wiggins: 1467 (Vol. 5)
HIERONIMO/EMOTHE text(s): 1973 modern edition by Robert G. Lawrence.
  • 1608 quarto Eld, George Printed title: A Trick to catch the Old-one single-play print
  • 1616 quarto Eld, George Langley, Thomas Printed title: A TRICKE TO CATCH THE OLD ONE. single-play print
      ESTC: S123172 17897 508 262b

Early Performances

  • Company: Children of Paul’s Venue: Date: 1605
    Cast:
      Location: Venue type: commercial theatre
      Note: “c. 1605-6” (Wiggins, vol. 5, p. 208). Indoor “private” theatre
      Information source: Wiggins, Martin. British Drama 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Volume 5: 1603-1608. 2015.
    • Company: Children of the Queen's Revels Venue: Date: 1606
      Cast:
        Location: Venue type: commercial theatre
        Note: "c. 1606-8" (Wiggins, vol. 5, p. 208). Indoor “private” theatre
        Information source: Wiggins, Martin. British Drama 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Volume 5: 1603-1608. 2015.
      • Company: Children of the Queen's Revels Venue: Whitehall Palace Date: 1607
        Cast:
          Location: Venue type: palace / court
          Note: 1 January. Company inferred.
          Information source: Wiggins, Martin. British Drama 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Volume 5: 1603-1608. 2015.

        Modern Productions

        • Instant Classics. White Bear Pub, London, 1994.
        • National Theatre Studio. Dir. Jenny Eastop, 1997
        • American Shakespeare Center (ASC). Blackfriars Playhouse, 2011.
        • Wallace, James, dir. [Staged reading] Shakespeare’s Globe, London. 2008. ‘Read Not Dead’ series.
        • Eastop, Jenny, dir. Rose Theatre, 2014.

        Modern editions

        • Mulholland, Paul, ed. A Trick to Catch the Old One. Middleton, Thomas. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013. The Revels Plays.
        • Wayne, Valerie, ed. A Trick to Catch the Old One. In: Taylor, Gary; Lavagnino, John, ed. Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 373–413
        • Taylor, Michael, ed. A Mad World, My Masters and Other Plays. Middleton, Thomas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Oxford English Drama.
        • Loughrey, Bryan ; Taylor, Neil, ed. Five Plays. Middleton, Thomas. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1988.
        • Frost, David L., ed. The Selected Plays of Thomas Middleton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978.
        • Price, George R., ed. Michaelmas Term; A Trick to Catch the Old One. Middleton, Thomas. The Hague and Paris: Mouton, 1976. Studies in English Literature 91.
        • Lawrence, Robert G., ed. Jacobean and Caroline Comedies. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1973. Everyman’s Library.
        • Nethercot, Arthur H.;. Baskervill, , Charles R. ; Heltzel, Virgil B., ed. Stuart Plays. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.
        • Barber, Charles, ed. A Trick to Catch the Old One. Middleton, Thomas. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1968. Fountainwell Drama Texts.
        • Watson, G. J., ed. A Trick to Catch the Old One. Middleton, Thomas. London: E. Benn, 1968. New Mermaids.
        • Spencer, Hazelton, ed. Elizabethan Plays. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1933.
        • Bullen, A. H., ed. The Works of Thomas Middleton. Vol. 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1885.

        Select Bibliography: Translations

        • ES:
          • Middleton, Thomas. "Truco para cazar a un viejo". Tra. Sanderson, John D.. Biblioteca Digital EMOTHE. Valencia: ARTELOPE / EMOTHE Universitat de València, 2017. URL: https://emothe.uv.es/biblioteca/textosEMOTHE/EMOTHE0483_TrucoParaCazarAUnViejo.php
        • FR:
          • Middleton, Thomas. "Moyen d'attraper un vieillard". Tra. Duval, Georges. Tra. Duval, Georges. Les Contemporains de Shakespeare. Ben Jonson, Marlowe, Dekker, Middleton. Paris: E. Flammarion, 1920. URL: https://emothe.uv.es/biblioteca/textosEMOTHE/EMOTHE0446_LeMoyenDattraperUnVieillard.php
        • IT:
          • Middleton, Thomas. Una trappola per il vecchio. Tra. Landini, M. C.. Bologna: CUSL, 1989.
          • Middleton, Thomas. "Una trappola per il vecchio". Tra. Barbarossa, Chiara. Tre drammi di Thomas Middleton. Genova: Tilgher, 1977.

        Select Bibliography: Criticism

        • Leonidas, Eric. "The School of the World: Trading on Wit in Middleton's 'Trick to Catch the Old One'". Early Modern Literary Studies: A Journal of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century English Literature. 2007, vol. 3, 12, .
        • Biggs, Murray. "The questionable ending of Middleton's 'A Trick to Catch the Old One': how seriously can we take the palinodes?". Notes and Queries. 1994, vol. 4, 41, p. 507-9.
        • Mount, David B. "The '[un]reclaymed forme' of Middleton's 'A Trick to Catch the Old One'". Studies in English Literature 1500-1900. 1991, vol. 2, 31, p. 259-72.
        • Shershow, Scott Cutler. "The pit of wit: sub-plot and unity in Middleton's 'A Trick to Catch the Old One'". Studies in Philology. 1991, vol. 3, 88, p. 363-81.
        • Ayers, P. K. "Plot, Subplot, and the Uses of Dramatic Discord in 'A Mad World, My Masters' and 'A Trick To Catch the Old One". Modern Language Quarterly: A Journal of Literary History. 1986, vol. 1, 47, p. 3-18.
        • Messina, Joseph. "The Moral Design of 'A Trick to Catch the Old One'". Ed. Friedenreich, Kenneth. "Accompaninge the players": Essays Celebrating Thomas Middleton, 1580-1980. New York: AMS, 1983, p. 109-132.
        • Kadono, Izumi. "The Prodigal in 'A Trick To Catch the Old One'". Sophia English Studies. 1982, 7, p. 33-46.

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