ABSTRACT
In “‘You Need Not Fear Not The House’: The Absence of Plague in The Alchemist,” Patrick Phillips explains part of the role played by the early modern theater in plague-time, commenting specifi cally on the purpose of Ben Jonson’s popular play:
by creating a plague comedy Jonson provided viewers with a form of mirth that had the power to purge “bad conceits” and replace them with a healthy, health-preserving image of a plague-less London. In the end, it was this medicinal function that made the trip to the theatre worth the risk: the promise of a “wholesome remedy” for the unavoidable and potentially fatal fear that gripped almost everyone as the sickness grew hot in 1610.1
In this paper, I establish the broader context for Phillips’s claims regarding the healing power of mirth in plague-time, demonstrating their less than certain acceptance in early modern England, especially among antitheatricalists who in plague-time had as much at stake as dramatists when it came to the interpretation of plays, playhouses, and the practice of playgoing.
