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Rating: 
Summary: New Mermaid Edition Quite Good
Review: Ben Jonson requires effort. His allusions to topical events tend to be obscure today, his penchant for having some characters quote Latin phrases can be a barrier (some characters misquote Latin, and we, the alert audience, are supposed to chuckle), and his use of unfamiliar colloquialisms and bawdy comments is yet another challenge. Despite these difficulties, Jonson's humor has weathered the centuries and most readers - with a little persistence - will enjoy Jonson's better known plays like "Volpone", "The Alchemist", and "Bartholomew Fair". In some ways I found "Bartholomew Fair" to be more difficult than either "Volpone" or "The Alchemist". Even with a second reading, I still needed to refer to the cast listing to keep track of the multitude of characters (35 or so) that come and go. To complicate matters some characters insisted on wearing disguises and changing their names. The dialogue, as I alluded earlier, nearly overwhelmed me at times, but I was rescued by the excellent footnotes by G. R. Hibbard in the New Mermaid edition to unravel obscure comments. My second reading was much easier and I am now developing a fondness for "Bartholomew Fair". "Bartholomew Fair" has a rather unusual introduction in which Ben Jonson cautions his audience that the author is sensitive to criticism and it would be best that they behave. Jonson had not forgotten the acrimonious reception for his previous play, a tragedy titled "Catiline", and he had no intention of having this play suffer likewise. Incredibly, Jonson had stagehands read a contractual agreement between the playwright and the audience defining rules for a proper and appropriate method of criticism. Fortunately for all, "Bartholomew Fair" proved to be popular and remained so for many years. I encourage you to read "Bartholomew Fair". You will be entertained by fortune hunters, country bumpkins, foolish gentry, zealous Puritans, bawdy lower class elements, a pompous judge, purse snatchers and con men that inhabit the fair. I have also used the inexpensive Oxford World Classics edition titled "The Alchemist and Other Plays" and its footnotes are quite helpful. My preference is the New Mermaids edition published by A & C Black/W W Norton. The introduction is more extensive, the font larger, and the paper quality better, but it is a little more expensive.
Rating:
Summary: a wonderful satire of justice
Review: Jonson was a wonderfully satirical dramatist of the Renaissance. Bartholomew Fair is a satire of religious justice and legal justice. He uses humorous, over-the-top characters to drive his point home. You will laugh with (not at) Ursula as the snobby, looking-down-their-noses characters realize that they are truly no better than she is. Jonson keeps asking us if his play is fair or foul. Who can judge what is fair or foul? Everyone or only the elite few? The central thing to remember while reading this play is: Fair and foul are near of kin.
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