THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE PB PB

Drama Classics: The Worlds Great Plays at a Great Little Price Francis Beaumonts The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a five-act satire on chivalric romances, generally considered the earliest whole parody (or pastiche) play in English. The plays structure is that of a play within a play. The intended performance of The London Merchant - the tale of an apprentices efforts to win the hand of his masters daughter - is interrupted by a request from the audience to stage the story of a heroic grocer who kills a lion with a pestle. Rafe is dragged from the audience to play this hero. Both stories get muddled up and the conventions of theatre get thoroughly mauled. The play was first performed at Blackfriars Theatre, London, in 1607. This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Colin Counsell.