Page "John Marston (poet)" Paragraph 3

In September 1599, John Marston began to work for Philip Henslowe as a playwright.

Following the work of O. J. Campbell, it has commonly been thought that Marston turned to the theatre in response to the Bishops ' Ban of 1599 ; more recent scholars have noted that the ban was not enforced with great rigor and might not have intimidated prospective satirists at all.

At any rate, Marston proved a good match for the stage — not the public stage of Henslowe, but the " private " playhouses where boy players performed racy dramas for an audience of city gallants and young members of the Inns of Court.

Traditionally, though without strong external attribution, Histriomastix has been regarded as his first play ; performed by either the Children of Paul's or the students of the Middle Temple in around 1599, it appears to have sparked the War of the Theatres, the literary feud between Marston, Jonson and Dekker that took place between around 1599 and 1602.

In c. 1600, Marston wrote Jack Drum's Entertainment and Antonio and Mellida, and in 1601 he wrote Antonio's Revenge, a sequel to the latter play ; all three were performed by the company at Paul's.

In 1601, he contributed poems to Robert Chester's Love's Martyr.

For Henslowe, he may have collaborated with Dekker, Day, and Haughton on Lust's Dominion.