William Rowley: The Changeling

The Changeling, one of the most accomplished dramatic collaborations between Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, was first performed in 1622. The play is set in the Spanish city of Alicante, an appropriately exotic backdrop for a tragedy whose characters and their actions are ruled by selfishness, lust and deception. The title figure is taken from Rowley’s bizarre subplot, where Antonio, identified in the dramatis personae as the titular character, together with his fellow Franciscus, feigns madness to enter the madhouse run by the foolish doctor Alibius and seduce his pretty but chaste wife Isabella. The play is better known for its main plot, however, which depicts the fatal alliance between the beautiful Beat