John Marston, Antonio and Mellida

Rebecca Yearling (University of Keele)
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The romantic comedy

Antonio and Mellida

was written in about 1599 for the boy actors of the St Paul’s theatre in London. It begins with a metatheatrical Induction, in which the boy players are seen studying their scripts and talking to each other about how to perform the parts they have been assigned. The actor playing the villain, Piero, will “be proud, stroke up the hair, and strut” (Induction 14), while the actor playing the hero, Antonio, complains that his part is so rich and varied in terms of the range of emotions that will be required that “T’ad been a right part for Proteus” (Induction 157-8). The Induction ends with a promise that the author will write a sequel to the play, “if this obtain gracious acceptance”. This promised sequel,

Antonio’s Revenge

, was…

941 words

Citation: Yearling, Rebecca. "Antonio and Mellida". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 June 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=615, accessed 19 March 2024.]

615 Antonio and Mellida 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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