ANONYMOUS
2 FORTUNE'S TENNIS
post–summer 1597, pre–16 November? pre–13 March? 1598
An Admiral's play coming after the amalgamation with Pembroke's—possibly a Swan play brought over to the Rose.
W.W. Greg (Dramatic Documents from the Elizabethan Playhouses, Oxford, rept. 1969) opines that Dekker, for 20s., combined an older, two-part play into one c. 1600–1602, and that this plot is of the second part of that earlier work.—One might also note interesting coincidences between this play and Derby's The Trial of Chivalry.
This play is no more than a few shreds of paper from the play's plot. The script is lost.
a synoptic, alphabetical character list
ANNABELLA[?]
A character name is nearly lost, only –lla remains. It is perhaps referring to a character of this name.
BELLAMIRA
A character from the badly deteriorated plot. At one point she disguises as a pilgrim. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play.
BONIFACE
A character from the badly deteriorated plot. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play.
CHILD
A character from the badly deteriorated plot. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play. Possibly the same character as "Son."
CO—
A character played by Singer (so W.W. Greg). The name has been lost in the disintegration of the plot. Greg warns against identifying this fragmentary name with the character Compaine listed elsewhere.
COMPAINE
Campaine? Champaine? A character from the badly deteriorated plot. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play. All that remains of the name is —mpaine.
DUKE of ORLEANS
A character from the badly deteriorated plot. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play.
EDWIN[?]
A character(?) from the badly deteriorated plot. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play. This is possibly the actor's name.
ISABELLA[?]
A character name is nearly lost, only –lla remains. It is perhaps referring to a character of this name.
LEWIS, KING of FRANCE
A character from the badly deteriorated plot. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play.
—LLA
Isabella? Annabella? An abbreviation of Bellamira? A character from the badly deteriorated plot. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play.
MAURITIUS
A character from the badly deteriorated plot. At one point in the action he is described as "bleeding." Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play.
PILGRIM
A disguise assumed by Bellamira. This is perhaps also a reference to another pilgrim character. Because of the disintegrated state of the plot, this is impossible to determine with certainty.
SERVANT
W.W. Greg divines a servant from the disintegrated plot, which lists "A s"–nothing more is known or can be recovered.
SERVINGMAN
Perhaps as many as four appear. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play.
SON
A character from the badly deteriorated plot. Because of the state of decay, nothing more can be deduced regarding the character's function in the otherwise lost play.