Epicœne, or The Silent Woman

Epicœne, or The Silent Woman is a comedy by Ben Jonson ()[]

Also known as The Epicene or possibly sometimes billed simply as The Silent Woman

The original play

It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children or Children of the Queen's Revels, a group of boy players, in 1609. It was, by Jonson's admission, a failure on its first presentation; however, John Dryden and others championed it, and after the Restoration it was frequently revived—indeed, a reference by Samuel Pepys to a performance on 6 July 1660 places it among the first plays legally performed after Charles II's ascension.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1969: Performed by the Rhodes University Drama Department in association with CAPAB in Grahamstown, Stellenbosch and Cape Town in September . Directed by Roy Sargeant with a cast that included Frantz Dobrowsky as "Ned Clerimont"; Stephen Gurney as "Sir Dauphine Eugenie"; Dugald Thomson as "Truewit"; John Burch as "Morose"; Christopher Weare as "Cutbeard" and Anthony Peake as "Epicoene". A new prologue to the play was composed for this production by Guy Butler and spoken by Noël Roos before performances.