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Message: <blockquote data-quote="scolairebocht" data-source="post: 144717" data-attributes="member: 8">[ATTACH=full]8187[/ATTACH]What is in the ManuscriptThe Manuscript includes whatever was among the papers of Phillips at the time he died relating to the Derry Plantation, including his various petitions to the King complaining about the London Companies, the reports of the Commissions that the King convened to examine these complaints, a few maps and diagrams, examples of which, including a town plan of Coleraine, you can see here, and various other paperwork that went over and back on the subject between Phillips and the Dublin and London administration.What passes now for a kind of ‘preface’ of these documents, is his 1629 petition to King Charles I, talking about how the latest Commissioners (there were a number of different Commissions at different times) were treated by the London Companies (badly) and enclosing the usual complaints. From which we get this passage:Among the other documents in this manuscript we find this ‘certificate’, a kind of statement or affidavit obviously, by one Edward Ellis:Harfleite was a burgess of the new plantation town of Coleraine in 1623, we know from other sources.(5)Hopefully anyway the context is clear enough, Sir Thomas Phillips is complaining about these London Companies and one of his complaints is the disrespectful way they treated the Commissioners, again, these were appointed by the King to examine complaints against the London Companies. As an example of this offence, they were ‘entertained’ by an offensive song and a play, or were planned to be so entertained anyway. He follows up that complaint with some proof (which would be demanded by the London authorities, as he well knows), taking the form of a statement by Edward Ellis that he heard this account of the song and the play, from one Edward Harfleite as they were talking in Mr Walmessey’s house in Coleraine.The Mystery, why does a Shakespeare play cause offence in Ireland in 1628?But obviously this begs more questions than it answers. Firstly, that song, is that from the play or how do they relate to one another? I think the answer has to be: maybe, but not necessarily. It could indeed be from the play, meaning they could have started the night’s entertainment with a song from the play and then realising how badly that went down decided to cut their losses and cancel the actual play. Or the song might just have been another part of the night’s entertainment and not related to the play, we just don’t know.But its obvious what we do know, no matter how you read these documents there is no question but that the Commissioners would have been offended by the Much Ado About Nothing play, not just the song. But why, is the obvious mystery here, why would King Charles’s Commissioners be offended by a Shakespeare play put on in Ireland in 1628? In pondering this I think you could come up with about three theories, which will be discussed in turn.Bawdiness as a possibility in causing offenceIf you read down through that account you would have to say that, on the surface of it, too ‘risque’ a song might have caused this offence. In otherwords if they had put on a bawdy song, with say too much sexual or scatological references, it could have caused offence (to the Commissioners, which after all included a bishop) and then they would have decided to cut their loses and not put on the play. This would also match with Phillips’ ongoing complaint about these uncouth arrogant businesspeople running rough shod out here on the Plantation.However there are a couple of problems with this. First of all most of these people involved here, are or were soldiers, in a bloody conflict where so many Irish were unceremoniously hung out of trees or got their heads chopped off, and we don’t need to speculate about what might have happened to some of their women folk. You just cannot picture them being all that offended by a few ‘risque’ jokes, or if they were that it would become such a big issue that you have complaints going to the King about it.Furthermore its clear from the context, that both the play and the song, did or would have caused offence. But what is so bawdy about Much Ado About Nothing? Well, nothing much really, so that solves that as a theory.</blockquote>

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