A Chaste Maid In Cheapside, The Rose Playhouse

Thomas Middleton's plays, London
While Thomas Middleton’s tragedy The Changeling plays at the Sam Wanamaker, his city comedy comes to the Rose Playhouse, just around the corner. Whereas Shakespeare’s ‘shakespeare-ness’ is easily recognised regardless of genre, this is not true of Middleton, whose tightly structured, elegant tragedies give way to maverick, bawdy comedies full of double-entendres and multiple story lines.
A Chaste Maid In Cheapside: summary
The central plot of this play concerns Moll Yellowhammer’s marriage. As daughter of a wealthy middleclass goldsmith, her father is determined that she will marry into the upper class but she wishes to marry for love. Class and sexual intrigue are therefore the dominant themes of a play rooted in its unapologetic Londonness, with jokes still remarkably funny for the present day audience.
Mercurius Theatre
Mercurius Productions have previous experience with both Middleton comedy and The Rose Playhouse, having put on A Trick To Catch The Old One last year. Set up by director Jenny Eastop and actor Tom Barratt, Mercurius have been nominated for several Off West End Theatre Awards, and are therefore a company definitely on the rise.