A mad world, my masters
Subtitle: Michaelmas term ; A trick to catch the old one ; No wit, no help like a woman's
By: Thomas Middleton ; edited with an introduction by Michael Taylor ; general editor, Michael Cordner ; associate general editors, Peter Holland, Martin Wiggins.
Contributors: Taylor, Michael, 1935-; Cordner, Michael.
Series: The world's classics
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 389
Subjects: City and town life -- Drama.; London (England) -- Drama.
Genres: Drama.
Other titles: Mad world, my masters ; Michaelmas term ; A trick to catch the old one ; No wit, no help like a woman's; Mad world, my masters and other plays
Description: Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) was a writer of great versatility, and his career as a London dramatist spans the most productive, innovative, and exciting period of theatrical activity in the history of English drama.

Best known for his tragedies, he also wrote many successful comedies of city life. This volume brings together four of the finest: A Mad World, My Masters, Michaelmas Term, A Trick to Catch the Old One, and No Wit, No Help Like a Woman's. The first three plays, written between 1604 and 1606, are witty and rambunctious satires on the predatory life of the aspiring London citizen. Sex and money are the characters' obsessions; their caustic exposure Middleton's.

In the later play, No Wit (1612), satire shades into romance, prose into verse. Together the four plays reveal the range and exuberance of Middleton's writing for the comic stage.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-378).