Double Falsehood or the Distressed Lovers. Ed. Brean Hammond

The chief interest of this, in its present form thoroughly mediocre and undistinguished text lies in the fact that it may have a “noble breeder” (as the Prologue to The Two Noble Kinsmen justly claims for that play). If it should truly represent the sole surviving relic of the lost Cardenio by Shakespeare and Fletcher of 1613, as announced by its “editor” Lewis Theobald, it would indeed be a most remarkable document, and it is the principal aim of this generously illustrated edition to present as fairly and im - partially as possible the opposing sides of the controversial debate that has been raging or simmering ever since The Double Falsehood was staged, with considerable success in 1728. Brean Hammond’s substantial and meticulously documented introduction argues persuasively against the still lingering suspicion that what we have is nothing but a fanciful fabrication and clever forgery by Theobald, made up of skillfully assembled reminiscences of Shakespeare’s and Fletcher’s printed plays.