A Mad World, My Masters[1] is a Jacobean stage play written by Thomas Middleton, a comedy first performed around 1605 and first published in 1608.
[2] The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on 4 October 1608, and first published in quarto later that year by the bookseller Walter Burre.
A second quarto appeared in 1640, issued by the bookseller James Becket; the title page of Q2 states that the play had been "often acted" by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Salisbury Court Theatre.
[3] The play belongs to the special subgenre known as city comedy; it provides a satirical and rather cynical view of life, as an amoral and fairly ruthless battle of wits in the urban metropolis of early 17th-century London.
Middleton likely drew upon a wide range of contemporary literature for the play's plot and atmosphere, including a chapbook titled The Merry Conceited Jests of George Peele that was registered in 1605.
The play is generally considered one of the best of the satirical city comedies that Middleton wrote in the early 17th century, along with A Trick to Catch the Old One.
It has been praised for having "the most skillfully constructed plot" of any of the playwright's London comedies, and also for its liveliness and its "details of local color.
"[4] Scene 1: A London street Richard Follywit enters with his cohorts, Mawworm (intestinal worm), Hoboy, and other hangers-on.
He jokes with his companions about their wild ways and sarcastically repents and says he is now a man who "swears without number, gulls without mercy and drinks without measure."
He tells his cohorts of a plan he has hatched to get some more money: His grandfather, Sir Bounteous Progress (a rich old knight) has left him everything in his will, but refuses to give him as much as ten pounds while he is still alive.
Luxuriating in the subtlety of her own craftiness, the Mother tells how she has prostituted the Courtesan fifteen times in order to save up enough money for a good marriage dowry.
Hairbrain tells her that he is very worried about his wife's chastity, and mentions that he has taken away all of her erotic literature (which includes Shakespeare's narrative poem, Venus and Adonis).
He asks the Courtesan to read some religious literature to Mistress Hairbrain: "There's a good chapter on Hell that will terrify her in this cold weather.
Talking to himself, Hairbrain says that, with the help of the Courtesan, he will keep his wife honest, only performing sexual favors for her husband (he regards sex as the payment she owes him for room and board).
Mistress Hairbrain gives the Courtesan a jewel to present to Penitent Brothel as a promise of her love, which she says she will demonstrate as soon as she manages to escape from her husband's strict guard.
As soon as Bounteous leaves, Follywit and his cohorts change into other costumes (masquing suits, which include masks to cover their faces).
After Bounteous is carried off, Follywit orders his cohorts to hide the loot in his suitcase, change out of their masquing outfits and tie each other up so it will look like they have been assailed by the robbers as well.
The Courtesan says that her plan will be profitable as well because the two elder brothers Innes and Possibility will undoubtedly visit to enquire about her health; disguised as a doctor, Penitent will be in a perfect position to squeeze cash for 'medicine' out of them.
Feeling guilty (but congratulating himself on being potent despite his advanced age), he gives the 'doctor' money for expensive medicines and leaves.
In order to put the Courtesan out of his uncle's favor, he hatches an unspecified plot involving a blatantly ridiculous prostitute's costume.
Excited by the prospect of a sexual rendezvous with the Courtesan, Bounteous disregards the linen cloth and tells Gunwater to prepare the bedroom.
Scene 3: A room in Sir Bounteous' country home Gunwater directs the 'Countess' (Follywit) to the bedroom and makes a pass at her/him.
Mr. Hairbrain enters to catch the tail end of their conversation; he is pleased to hear Penitent giving his wife sound moral instructions.
These qualities seem to make Follywit desire her even more: "Give me a woman as she was made at first [i.e., before the Fall], simple of herself [i.e., pure], without sophistication, like this wench.
Follywit makes plans to surprise his uncle by introducing his bride at the feast Bounteous is giving on Tuesday (the same feast—of course—that Penitent and the Hairbrains will attend).
Bounteous greets them warmly (especially after they tell him their patron is Lord Owemuch) and arranges to have them perform a play called The Slip at dinner.
Worried that the disruption will ruin his wedding announcement, he decides to make the audience believe that the Constable is part of the play.
Pretending to be a justice, Follywit scolds the Constable for arresting the men without due cause and orders him bound and gagged.
Bounteous is not entirely convinced, but when he is introduced to the bride and realizes that his nephew has unwittingly married a prostitute, he laughs, toasts the marriage, and remarks on the poetic justice of the situation: In 1977 an updated version of the play, by Barrie Keeffe, was performed by the Joint Stock Theatre Company at the Young Vic in London.
[5][6] On 21 July 1983, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a production adapted by Peter Barnes and directed by Penny Gold, featuring Roy Marsden as Follywit, James Villiers as Sir Bounteous, Ian McDiarmid as Master Penitent, Theresa Streatfield as Francesca the Courtesan and Stephen Thorne as Master Harebrain.