The Family of Love

The Family of Love charts a successful intrigue between the cash strapped Gerardine, and Maria, the sequestered niece of the mercenary Doctor Glister.

Their romance unfolds against the dissection of two citizen marriages, the Glisters' and the Purges'. Mistress Purge attends Familist meetings independently, arousing her husband's suspicions about her marital fidelity. Two libertines, Lipsalve and Gudgeon, go in search of sex and solubility (freedom from constipation), receiving more than they bargain for in respect of the latter.

This scholarly edition of The Family of Love marks the first occasion on which the comedy is attributed to Lording Barry in print. It brings together literary and historical discussion with a thorough analysis of the play's disputed authorship. Tomlinson highlights Barry's rich vein of burlesque humour in a comedy that combines magic, a trunk, and a mock-court session with vigorous colloquial language.

‘…a valuable contribution to the Revels Plays catalogue and another admirable
instance of the series’s demonstrable eagerness in recent years to offer more critically neglected plays the same editorial treatment as their more oft-studied counterparts.’
Early Theatre

‘It’s an excellent edition. The introduction is splendid and the commentary gives readers all the help they could want. Barry could never have imagined that his play would receive such fine, meticulous scholarship four centuries after his death.’
Macdonald P. Jackson, Professor Emeritus, University of Auckland

‘A superb contribution to the study of early modern drama'
Parergon

'The text may pre-date electricity, but rather than something old, this is language in its infancy: elastic and aural and as naughty as a toddler.'
Benjamin Kilby-Henson, Theatre Director

Sophie Tomlinson is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand Aotearoa

The Family of Love charts a successful intrigue between the cash strapped Gerardine, and Maria, the sequestered niece of the mercenary Doctor Glister. Their romance unfolds against the dissection of two citizen marriages, the Glisters' and the Purges'. Mistress Purge attends Familist meetings independently, arousing her husband's suspicions about her marital fidelity. Two libertines, Lipsalve and Gudgeon, go in search of sex and solubility (freedom from constipation), receiving more than they bargain for in respect of the latter. This scholarly edition of The Family of Love marks the first occasion on which the comedy is attributed to Lording Barry in print. It brings together literary and historical discussion with a thorough analysis of the play's disputed authorship. Tomlinson highlights Barry's rich vein of burlesque humour in a comedy that combines magic, a trunk, and a mock-court session with vigorous colloquial language.

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