An anti-warfare, anti-marriage, and pro-free-love closeted satire.
A single vengeful cuckold is tragic, whereas many cuck-queans and cuckolds running across England on their love-errands is satiric. The title of this play announces why it remained closeted across the Renaissance, as it trivializes adultery in a period that continued to see revenge-killings by cuckolds. The story opens with two aristocratic married couples swinging partners, as Doucebella cheats with Floradin, while Floradin's wife, Aruania, cheats on him with Doucebella's husband, Claribel. Tired of these complications, Floradin and Claribel become soldiers in the war against the approaching Spanish Armada. And Aruania and Doucebella unite in an apparent lesbian affair. The gentlemen then begin seducing a muscular forest-keeper, Olivel, while the ladies work on seducing her forester husband, Latro. Meanwhile, Nim and Shift, two thieves, attempt a range of frauds and tricks to steal a newly-made bowl from Pearle, Doctor of Civil Law. And Pigot, Master of the Tarlton Inn, has tricks and legal reprisals that he uses to force Nim and Shift to pay their growing bill. Under this satirical, absurd and comic surface full of misadventures, there are many exquisite poetic passages, such as the recounting by Captain Lacy of how the British troops fought against the Spanish Armada. There are fights, robberies, and a wealth of legal and historical insights heavily packed into every line of this drama.
