The Sexiest and Most Chaste Pastoral Tragicomedy
Before this symposium, I’d never heard of John Fletcher’s The Faithful Shepherdess, let alone read it. Based on my limited experience with pastoral literature, I was expecting some witty, flirty banter between a shepherdess and a knight or maybe another shepherd. What I got instead was an absolutely wild play about lusty shepherds and shepherdesses getting caught up in a chaotic love tangles—and a cult of chastity, of all things. Hilarious and unexpected, this play had me hooked from the get-go.
Panel on "Affect, Influences, Audiences in the Renaissance Pastoral"
Jonathan Combs-Schilling’s began with his analysis of Il Pastor Fido by Giovanni Battista Guarini. This 1590 pastoral tragicomedy is all about an annual virgin sacrifice in Arcadia and how two godly descendants—Silvio and Amarilli—are supposed to break the curse by getting married. Of course, being a mix of tragedy and comedy, things don’t go as planned. Combs-Schilling highlighted how this grafting of genres creates something that’s both funny and steamy, and he pointed out the work’s popularity, with over 40 editions published by 1700. Who knew tragicomedy could be so entertaining?
Christine Varnado brought queer analysis to the table, arguing that The Faithful Shepherdess is the perfect example of a non-binary genre. She described the play as a masterclass in edging—yes, you read that right—where the tension just keeps building, and death (the ultimate climax) never comes. Varnado’s queer and trans reading of the genre was fascinating, and she offered an asexual take on Clorin, the heroine who leads the cult of chastity. By flipping societal norms, the play forces us to question how we’re all boxed in by compulsory heterosexuality. Her conclusion? The chastity rule at the end of the play – it won’t work for them and it won’t work for us.
As someone who entered this symposium with almost no background knowledge, I was excited that Sarah Neville focused on the play’s reception. The Faithful Shepherdess flopped when it first hit the stage. But Neville explained this wasn’t because the play was bad—it was because audiences didn’t know what to make of it. Fletcher assumed his viewers would be familiar with the Italian pastoral tradition, but most expected something else. As Neville put it, audiences had a narrow and specific idea of pastoral drama as “a play of country-hired shepherds, in gray cloaks, with curtailed dogs in strings, sometimes laughing together, and sometimes killing one another,” often featuring “whitsun ales, cream, wassail, and Morris dances.” When they didn’t find any of this, they wrote it off as a failure. But Neville didn’t blame them; she stressed that Fletcher deliberately frustrated these expectations, almost testing the audience’s limits. By crafting a play that was too sophisticated for a London audience he had “shepherded” him himself into a club of writers who found their works too lofty for their audiences.
Keynote: "The Faithful Shepherdess at the Blackfriars Playhouse"
Keynote speaker Lucy Munro tied it all together with her talk, “The Faithful Shepherdess at the Blackfriars Playhouse.” Munro addressed the play’s initial failure and argued for a reconsideration of its merits. She emphasized Fletcher’s strategic use of the Blackfriars Playhouse, particularly its intimate setting and innovative staging possibilities. Munro also analyzed the play’s portrayal of female characters, focusing on how Clorin’s role, with the most lines, highlights the centrality of the female voice. The heart of her talk, however, revolved around the actors themselves and the unique challenges they faced. She detailed how the boy actors, often tasked with portraying multiple characters, had to rapidly switch between roles like Amaryllis and Amoret. This required them to make each character distinct while managing quick costume changes and maintaining the flow of the performance. Munro noted that the actors were cited and well-known, with the play potentially designed to showcase a younger generation of performers. Her insights highlighted the sophisticated demands of Fletcher’s work, both in writing and in its execution on stage.
The Shepherds on the Stage
The day ended on a high note with a performance of The Faithful Shepherdess by Lord Denney’s Players. After an afternoon of academic discussion, it was wonderful to see the play come to life. The audience couldn’t stop laughing (or gasping) as the shepherds and shepherdesses tried to love, marry and kill one another. SPOILER ALERT: They’re all saved in the end by joining the cult of chastity. What could possibly go wrong? Even without the whitsun ales and Morris dances, this pastoral tragicomedy had all the chaotic, laugh-out-loud energy of a 17th-century American Pie.
This symposium left me with a whole new appreciation for Fletcher’s work and the unexpected hilarity of the pastoral tragicomedy. If you think pastoral dramas are all fluff and no fun, The Faithful Shepherdess will prove you hilariously wrong.
