The Bird in a Cage
The Bird in a Cage, or The Beauties is a Caroline era comedy written by James Shirley, first published in 1633. The play is notable, even among Shirley's plays, for its lushness — what one critic has called "gay romanticism run mad." History The play was licensed for performance, under the title The Beauties, by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on 21 January 1633. It was published in quarto in the same year, printed by B. Alsop and T. Fawcet for the bookseller William Cooke. The title page of the 1633 quarto states that the play was acted at the Phoenix, or Cockpit Theatre, which means it was played by Queen Henrietta's Men, as was standard for Shirley plays of that time. The play was ironically dedicated to William Prynne, the Puritan author and religious controversialist who published his wide-ranging attack on stage drama and actors, Histriomastix, in the previous year, 1632. Among other things, Histriomastix was perceived as an attack on Queen Henrietta Maria; Shirley's satirical dedication was seen as a defence of the Queen, and may have influenced the Inns of Court to select Shirley as the author of their masque, The Triumph of Peace,