ABSTRACT
Bartholomew Fair, first performed in 1614, occupies a special place in Jonson's stage career. His previous piay Catiline (l6II) had received, in his own words, 'ali vexation of censure' ; but far from retiring from the fray, he next composed his most audacious, in many ways his most ambitious, piece for the Jacobean stage, and the circumstances of its first two performances in themselves chalienge our attention (and will occupy much of this chapter). The play is a kind of epic farce designed on an immense scale. It is nearly 4,000 lines long (compared to the average Jacobean play of 2,500) and the dramatist himself concedes in the Induction that he printed with the play that its piaying time is also necessarily iong - 'The space of two hours and an half, and somewhat more' . 1 Moreover, Bartholomew Fair evidently requires a much iarger cast than the Jacobean play company normally furnished.
