Timeline of Arthurian Verse Drama

Part of Season Two: Arthur Through the Ages

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Season Two Episode Guide

TIMELINE

1500

• 1561: The Tragedie of Gorboduc, or Ferrex and Porrex, Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville.  First play written entirely in blank verse (unrhymed), strict iambic pentameter (five feet of iambic rhythm)
  

• 1587: The Misfortunes of Arthur, Sir Thomas Hughes
  

1600

• 1607: Lord Hay’s Masque, Thomas Campion
  

• 1622: The Birth of Merlin, Or The Childe Hath, William Rowley
  

• 1691: King Arthur: Or, The British Worthy, John Dryden, music by Henry Purcell
  

1700

• 1730: Tom Thumb the Great: A Burlesque Tragedy, Henry Fielding
  

• 1731: The Tragedy of Tragedies: or the Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, Henry Fielding
  

• 1733: The Opera of Operas; Or, Tom Thumb the Great Alter’d from the Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great and Set to Musick after the Italian Manner.  As It Is Performing at the New Theatre in the Hay-Market, Eliza Haywood and William Hatchett (adapted from Fielding)
  

• 1770-1789: Masque of King Arthur, also known as Arthur and Emmeline, David Garrick (adapted from Dryden)
  

• 1782: The Marriage of Sir Gawain: An Opera, John Seally
  

• 1796: Vortigern: An Historical Tragedy in Five Acts, or Vortigern and Rowena, W. H. Ireland
  

1800

• 1801: The Fairy of the Lake, John Thelwall
  

• 1805-1810: Tom Thumb the Great: A Burlesque Tragedy from Fielding, Kane O’Hara Esq. (adapted from Fielding)
  

• 1827: Merlin: A Drama in Three Acts, Lambert A. Wilmer
  

• 1829 (circa): Fragments of the Masque of Gwendolen, Reginald Heber
  

• 1843: Launcelot of the Lake: A Tragedy, in Five Acts, C. J. Riethmüller  
  

• 1852: Tristram and Iseult, Matthew Arnold
  

• 1868: King Arthur: Or, Launcelot the Loose, Gin-Ever the Square and the Knights of the Round Table, and Other Furniture. A Burlesque Extravaganza, W. M. Akhurst
  

• 1871: King Arthur: or, The Knights of the Round Table, and other funny-ture.  A Burlesque Extravaganza, W. M. Akhurst
  

• 1884: Time and the Witch Vivian, William Butler Yeats
  

• 1885: The New King Arthur: An Opera Without Music, Edgar Fawcett
  

• 1889: Merlin, John Veitch
  

• 1891: The Marriage of Guenevere: A Tragedy, Richard Hovey
  

• 1891: The Quest of Merlin, Richard Hovey
  

• 1893: Excalibur: An Arthurian Drama, Ralph Adams Cram
  

• 1895: Mordred: A Tragedy in Five Acts, founded on the Arthurian Relation of Sir Thomas Mallory, Wilfred Campbell
  

• 1895: King Arthur: A Drama in a Prologue and Four Acts, J. Comyns Carr, music by Sir Arthur Sullivan
  

• 1895: Mordred: A Tragedy, Henry Newbolt
  

• 1898: The Birth of Galahad, Richard Hovey
  

1900

• 1900: Taliesin: A Masque, Richard Hovey
  

• 1905: The Birth of Parsival, R. C. Trevelyan
  

• 1905: Gwenevere: A Lyric Play, Written for Music, Earnest Rhys, with music by Vincent Thomas
  

• 1906: Tristam & Iseult : A Drama in Four Acts, J. Comyns Carr
  

• 1906: Guenevere: A Play in Five Acts, Stark Young
  

• 1906: Guinevere: A Tragedy in Three Acts, Graham Hill
  

• 1907: Merlin and Vivian: A Lyric Dream, Ethel Watts Mumford, with music by Henry Kimball Hadley
  

• 1908: Lanval: A Drama in Four Acts, T. E. Ellis
  

• 1908: The Farwell of Lancelot and Guinevere, W. E. B. Henderson
  

• 1908: The Young Knight or How Gareth Won His Spurs, Reverend James Yeames
  

• 1908: The Masque of the Grail, Earnest Rhys
  

• 1908: Enid: A Lyric Play Written for Music, Earnest Rhys
  

• 1909: Lancelot and Elaine: A Play in Five Acts, Morley Steynor
  

• 1909: The Birth of Arthur: A Choral Drama, libretto by Rutland Boughton and Reginald R. Buckley, music by Rutland Boughton
  

• 1911: Uther and Igraine, Choral Drama (Music Drama of the Future), Reginald R. Buckley, with music by Rutland Boughton
  

• 1911: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Play in Five Acts, Reverend James Yeames
  

• 1912: The Tragedy of Etarre, Rhys Carpenter
  

• 1914: The Queen’s Crags, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
  

• 1914: The New Parsifal: An Operatic Fable, R. C. Trevelyan
  

• 1916: The Round Table, Rutland Boughton
  

• 1918: Lancelot, Algernon Charles Swinburne
  

• 1918: La Mort Sans Pitié, Ernest Rhys
  

• 1923: Elaine: A Poetic Drama, Mildred Weinberger
  

• 1923: The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Conrwall at Tintagel in Lyonnesse, Thomas Hardy
  

• 1924: The Famous Tragedy of The Queen of Cornwall, Rutland Boughton (inspired by Hardy)
  

• 1929: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Charles William Bailey
  

• 1930: Birds of Rhiannon: A Grove Play, Waldemar Young, music by Edward Harris
  

• 1934: The Lily Maid, Rutland Boughton
  

• 1944: Galahad, Rutland Boughton
  

• 1945: Avalon, Rutland Boughton
  

• 1949: Thor, with Angels, Christopher Fry
  

• 1981: The Marvels of Merlin, Tim Porter
  

2000

• 2001: The Death of King Arthur, Matthew Freeman
  

• 2009: King Arthur, Lucy Nordberg

• Date Uncertain: The Gododdin, Peter Oswald
  

• 2011: King Arthur, Merlin and the Woods of Time, Glyn Maxwell
  

• 2013: The Tragedy of Arthur, Arthur Phillips
  

• 2019: The Tragedy of King Arthur, Daniel James Roth
  

• 2019: The Table Round and The Siege Perilous, Emily C. A. Snyder