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Arbaces returns from war intending to marry his sister Panthea to the defeated king Tigranes, but finds himself in love with her. A plot to resolve the succession reveals Arbaces is not Panthea’s brother; he marries her but relinquishes the throne. A cowardly courtier’s subplot provides comic relief.
When Duke Leontius suppresses the customary worship of Cupid at his children's urging, Cupid oversees the ruin of the royal family and their attendants through disastrous love entanglements.
In Seville, a feud between Vitelli and Alvarez threatens the love between Vitelli and the disguised Clara, Alvarez’s daughter raised as a boy and famed as a warrior. Alvarez’s son Lucio, raised as a girl, also falls in love. When the families prepare to settle the feud by combat, the young women intervene and secure peace and two marriages.
Theodosia disguises herself as a boy and travels to Barcelona after her fiancé Mark-Antonio deserts her; Leocadia, also disguised, follows him after he abandons her. Mark-Antonio’s betrayals and a street brawl bring the travelers together, where the women’s disclosures and a contrived duel between their fathers lead to reconciliations.
In a fictional Sicily ruled by a king who displaced its royal house, rightful heir Philaster is loved by Princess Arethusa. The king plans to make a Spanish prince his heir, and the lovers face slander, mistaken identity, imprisonment and a death sentence before citizens' rebellion restores Philaster to the crown.
Falstaff plots to seduce Mistress Ford and Mistress Page for money, but the Merry Wives discover his identical letters and arrange to humiliate him. Meanwhile, Anne Page loves Fenton while her parents and suitors promote other matches. Ford, disguised as Brook, tests Falstaff and later joins the Pages in a trap involving a laundry basket. At Windsor Forest, the group stages a fairy prank; Anne and Fenton reveal they have married, while Slender and Caius discover their supposed brides are boys in disguise. The opera ends in reconciliation.
Jacomo, a misogynist, is reformed and won by Frank, while Julio and Angelo pursue the widow Lelia. The comedy also plays with audience expectations through an abrupt marriage between Julio and Frank's friend Clora.
Young lovers Viola and Richardo plan to elope, but his drunken delay leaves her exposed to assault and separation. Meanwhile the foppish Antonio schemes to let his friend Mercury pursue his wife Maria; disguises, false reports and mistaken beliefs entangle the lovers until Richardo proves his change of character and the group reunites.
A Citizen and his Wife interrupt a performance of The London Merchant and demand a chivalric play featuring their apprentice Rafe as a Grocer Errant. His comic adventures alternate with the interrupted play’s story of apprentice Jasper and Luce, who outwit her father’s preferred suitor and win permission to marry.
When a king forces Amintor to marry Evadne instead of his betrothed Aspatia, Evadne reveals that the king has made her his mistress. She kills him; later Aspatia deliberately receives a fatal wound in a duel with Amintor, Evadne kills herself, and Amintor follows. The tragedy also follows General Melantius's revenge plot and the court's political upheaval.
For the wedding festivities of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V, Mercury and Iris present mythological knights and dancing anti-masques of Naiads, Hyades, Cupids, statues and rustic figures in a court spectacle grounded in Greek mythology.
In this Jacobean comedy, a woman wants her beloved to duel with and kill his closest friend, a dramatic premise the play shares with several contemporary works.
In Milan, misogynist general Gondarino rejects a woman who arrives seeking shelter, while the Duke suspects him of concealing a love affair. Oriana torments Gondarino and is framed as unchaste; her refusal of a courtier’s sexual bargain proves her virtue. A parallel comic plot follows gourmand Lazarillo’s obsessive pursuit of a prized fish.
Queen Brunhalt schemes to control her sons Thierry and Theodoret, poisoning Thierry's marriage to Ordella and arranging the murder of the upright king. After Theodoret is killed and Thierry poisoned, Brunhalt is exposed and punished, while Ordella dies beside Thierry.
Arbaces returns from war intending to marry his sister Panthea to the defeated king Tigranes, but finds himself in love with her. A plot to resolve the succession reveals Arbaces is not Panthea’s brother; he marries her but relinquishes the throne. A cowardly courtier’s subplot provides comic relief.
When Duke Leontius suppresses the customary worship of Cupid at his children's urging, Cupid oversees the ruin of the royal family and their attendants through disastrous love entanglements.
In Seville, a feud between Vitelli and Alvarez threatens the love between Vitelli and the disguised Clara, Alvarez’s daughter raised as a boy and famed as a warrior. Alvarez’s son Lucio, raised as a girl, also falls in love. When the families prepare to settle the feud by combat, the young women intervene and secure peace and two marriages.
Theodosia disguises herself as a boy and travels to Barcelona after her fiancé Mark-Antonio deserts her; Leocadia, also disguised, follows him after he abandons her. Mark-Antonio’s betrayals and a street brawl bring the travelers together, where the women’s disclosures and a contrived duel between their fathers lead to reconciliations.
In a fictional Sicily ruled by a king who displaced its royal house, rightful heir Philaster is loved by Princess Arethusa. The king plans to make a Spanish prince his heir, and the lovers face slander, mistaken identity, imprisonment and a death sentence before citizens' rebellion restores Philaster to the crown.
Falstaff plots to seduce Mistress Ford and Mistress Page for money, but the Merry Wives discover his identical letters and arrange to humiliate him. Meanwhile, Anne Page loves Fenton while her parents and suitors promote other matches. Ford, disguised as Brook, tests Falstaff and later joins the Pages in a trap involving a laundry basket. At Windsor Forest, the group stages a fairy prank; Anne and Fenton reveal they have married, while Slender and Caius discover their supposed brides are boys in disguise. The opera ends in reconciliation.
Jacomo, a misogynist, is reformed and won by Frank, while Julio and Angelo pursue the widow Lelia. The comedy also plays with audience expectations through an abrupt marriage between Julio and Frank's friend Clora.
Young lovers Viola and Richardo plan to elope, but his drunken delay leaves her exposed to assault and separation. Meanwhile the foppish Antonio schemes to let his friend Mercury pursue his wife Maria; disguises, false reports and mistaken beliefs entangle the lovers until Richardo proves his change of character and the group reunites.
A Citizen and his Wife interrupt a performance of The London Merchant and demand a chivalric play featuring their apprentice Rafe as a Grocer Errant. His comic adventures alternate with the interrupted play’s story of apprentice Jasper and Luce, who outwit her father’s preferred suitor and win permission to marry.
When a king forces Amintor to marry Evadne instead of his betrothed Aspatia, Evadne reveals that the king has made her his mistress. She kills him; later Aspatia deliberately receives a fatal wound in a duel with Amintor, Evadne kills herself, and Amintor follows. The tragedy also follows General Melantius's revenge plot and the court's political upheaval.
For the wedding festivities of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V, Mercury and Iris present mythological knights and dancing anti-masques of Naiads, Hyades, Cupids, statues and rustic figures in a court spectacle grounded in Greek mythology.
In this Jacobean comedy, a woman wants her beloved to duel with and kill his closest friend, a dramatic premise the play shares with several contemporary works.
In Milan, misogynist general Gondarino rejects a woman who arrives seeking shelter, while the Duke suspects him of concealing a love affair. Oriana torments Gondarino and is framed as unchaste; her refusal of a courtier’s sexual bargain proves her virtue. A parallel comic plot follows gourmand Lazarillo’s obsessive pursuit of a prized fish.
Queen Brunhalt schemes to control her sons Thierry and Theodoret, poisoning Thierry's marriage to Ordella and arranging the murder of the upright king. After Theodoret is killed and Thierry poisoned, Brunhalt is exposed and punished, while Ordella dies beside Thierry.