Sejanus His Fall, a 1603 play byBen Jonson, is atragedy aboutLucius Aelius Sejanus, the favourite of theRoman emperorTiberius.
Sejanus His Fall was performed at court in 1603, and at theGlobe Theatre in 1604. The latter performance was a failure. According to Jonson, an unnamed co-author "had good share" in the version of the play as it was "acted on the public stage". For reasons unknown the play was accused of promoting "popery and treason". Jonson was questioned, but no action was taken.
Jonson published the play in a revised version, replacing the contributions of his co-author with his own words. The published version was accompanied by copious marginal notes citing its historical sources, inquarto in 1605 and infolio in 1616.
Sejanus His Fall was first performed by theKing's Men in 1603, probably at court in the winter of that year.[1] In 1604 it was produced at theGlobe Theatre. Contemporary witnesses, including Jonson, reported that the cast was greeted with heckles and hisses by their first audience at the Globe;[2] the 1604 performance was "hissed off the stage".[3] According toPark Honan, the later Roman works of Shakespeare, who had acted inSejanus, carefully avoided "Sejanus's clotted style, lack of irony, and grinding moral emphasis."[4]
The published cast list in Jonson's 1616folio identifies the principal actors asRichard Burbage,Augustine Phillips,William Sly,John Lowin,William Shakespeare,John Heminges,Henry Condell, andAlexander Cooke (listed in that order). It is not known which parts were played by which actors. David Grote argues that the published list probably mixes two separate productions, as Lowin did not join the King's Men until after the first production. However Grote suggests that the most likely roles for these performers can be identified:
Sejanus, the largest role and a classic over-reacher in theRichard III manner, was obviously played by Burbage. The proudSilius, whose confrontation with Tiberius occupies the core of the first three acts and whose suicide is a traditionally noble Roman death, most likely would have gone to Heminges, with the more military Condell as theGuards Captain Macro. Phillips, who had been playing dissolute men for some time, would seem very likely for Tiberius if not for Jonson's hint that it was actually Shakespeare. Still, with Shakespeare as Tiberius, there is a very large role for an indignant speechmaker,Arruntius, that would have taken advantage of Phillips's rhetorical skills.[5]
Grote further suggests that the unnamed other members of the company,Samuel Crosse, William Sly, andRobert Armin, played the roles of Lepidus, Terentius, and Sabinius.
From 1604 on, there is no record of a performance ofSejanus His Fall until 1928, when it was put on byWilliam Poel.[6] According to the play's modern editor Philip Ayres, Poel "cut the play by roughly a quarter" to "get away from the 'literary' 1605 published version to the 'hidden' stage play".[7] More recently, theRoyal Shakespeare Company staged the play in 2005.[8] Later, as part of the many staged readings and livestream productions that took place during theCOVID-19 pandemic, New York City's Red Bull Theatre produced a "livestream presentation" via YouTube on 17 May 2021 directed and adapted by Nathan Winkelstein, featuring notable Broadway and US television actors includingTamara Tunie (Sabinus),Laila Robins (Tiberius Caesar),Denis O'Hare (Sejanus),Keith David (Silius),Manoel Felciano (Natta), Matthew Rauch (Drusus),Stephen Spinella (Eudemus), andEmily Swallow (Livia), among others.[9]
The play was entered in theStationers' Register byEdward Blount on 2 November 1604.[10] On 6 August 1605 Blount transferred his copyright toThomas Thorpe, who published it inquarto that year (STC 14782), printed byGeorge Eld.[11] The printed text is accompanied by "copious marginal notes" citing the play's historical sources, which Jonson informs his readers were "all in the learned tongues, save one, with whose English side I have little to do".[12] The play is prefaced by an epistle "To the Readers" by Jonson, andcommendatory verses byGeorge Chapman,Hugh Holland, 'Th. R.', generally assumed to beSir Thomas Roe,John Marston,William Strachey, one 'Everard B.',[13] and two poets who signed their verses as 'Cygnus' and 'Philos'. In 2023, the scholar Chris Laoutaris identified 'Cygnus' asWilliam Shakespeare.[14]
A 1616 edition infolio features Jonson's Epistle toLord Aubigny, in which the dramatist again indicates thatSejanus was a flop when staged at theGlobe Theatre.
In the winter of 1618–19 Jonson told his friendWilliam Drummond that theEarl of Northampton was his "mortal enemy" because Jonson had beaten one of the Earl's servants, and that Northampton had had Jonson called before thePrivy Council on an accusation of "Popery and treason", based onSejanus.[15] What led to these accusations is unknown. It might have been something in the text or the performance of the play. Nor is it known exactly when this accusation was made, though it is likely to have been in the early period of James I's reign. However, according to Jonson expert James Loxley, "no action was taken, as far as we know".[16]
There have been several theories about what may have led to the accusation. One theory is that the fall of Sejanus was thought to mirror that of theEarl of Essex, who had been executed in 1601. Another writer,Samuel Daniel was brought before the Privy Council in 1604 because his playPhilotas was thought "to be a reflection of the dangerous matter of the dead Earl of Essex".[17] However Philip Ayres has argued thatSejanus was thought to parallel the 1603 trial ofWalter Raleigh, who had been found guilty of conspiring with Spanish Catholics to murder James I in theMain Plot. This might explain how a play set in ancient Rome was suspected of promoting "Popery".[18] It has also been suggested that the central theme of the play, the dangers of rule by royal favourites, was the problem. In the early years of his reign, 1603–1605, James was especially sensitive to criticism of his supporters, given the several conspiracies against him, culminating in the 1605Gunpowder Plot.[19]
Jonson's epistle "To the Readers" in the 1605 quarto states that an unnamed author had "good share" in the version of the play which was performed on the public stage:
Lastly I would inform you that this book, in all numbers, is not the same with that which was acted on the public stage, wherein a second pen had good share; in place of which, I have rather chosen to put weaker (and no doubt less pleasing) of mine own, than to defraud so happy a genius of his right by my loathed usurpation.[20]
Jonson's reference to "happy genius" have led some to speculate that William Shakespeare—who acted in the play—was Jonson's co-author on the original version ofSejanus, which has not survived.[21] Another candidate for co-authorship isGeorge Chapman, who later wrote a poem praising the play.[22] Jonson was certainly collaborating with Chapman in this period, as his next play,Eastward Ho, was co-written with Chapman and John Marston.
John-Mark Philo has suggested that Shakespeare's experience with acting inSejanus and its unfavourable reception may have influenced him in writing hisOthello, also written in 1603 and performed by the same theatre company, theKing's Men. The two plays have "similar plot devices, characterisation, opportunities for audience interaction and ... shared phrasing that doesn't appear anywhere else in Shakespeare's work".[23][2]