Liberality and Prodigality

Liberality and Prodigality (A Pleasant Comedie, shewing the contention betweene Liberalitie and Prodigalitie, also known as Contention between Liberality and Prodigality) is a morality play by an unknown author from c.1567.^[1] Its title page also reads: "As it was played before her Maiestie. London Printed by Simon Stafford for George Vincent, and are to be sold at the signs of the Hand in hand in Wood-street over against S. Michaels Church."

The copy of this play in the Garrick Collection appears to be the only one known. There is some internal evidence, from the allusion to the 43rd year of Queen Elizabeth, that the production was performed before her Majesty in 1600; and it seems likely that it was a revival of a more ancient piece. Edward Phillips, author of the "Theatrum Poetarum," assigned it to Robert Greene, but this attribution is dubious.

References

Sources

• Craik, Thomas Wallace. 1958. The Tudor Interlude: Stage, Costume and Acting. Leicester: Leicester UP.
• Southern, Richard. 1973. The Staging of Plays Before Shakespeare. London: Faber. ISBN 0-571-10132-1.

External links

The full text of this play can be found in:

• Project Gutenberg's "A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 8 by Various"

Morality plays of the Tudor period
Interludes	The Castle of Perseverance Mankind Everyman The World and the Child Interlude of Youth The Disobedient Child Liberality and Prodigality Horestes The Seven Deadly Sins The Play of the Weather
Related works	Medieval theatre Psychomachia Autos sacramentales Ordo Virtutum Elckerlijc A Satire of the Three Estates A Looking Glass for London Four Plays in One Pathomachia The Sun's Darling
Characters	Vice Folly Death Personification