George Peele
born , c. July 25, 1556, London, Eng.
died , c. Nov. 9, 1596
Elizabethan dramatist who experimented in many
forms of theatrical art: pastoral, history,
melodrama, tragedy, folk play, and pageant.
Peele’s father was a London clerk who
contributed to several city pageants. Peele was
educated at Oxford, where he translated into
English a play by Euripides. He later moved to
London, but in 1583 he returned to Oxford to
supervise the performance at Christ Church of
two Latin plays by the noted academic dramatist
William Gager (1555–1622).
In London he became associated with Robert
Greene and others known as the university wits,
who were attempting to make a living as
professional authors, and he experimented with
poetry in various forms. His earliest important
work is The Arraignment of Paris (c. 1581–84), a
mythological extravaganza written for the
Children of the Chapel, a troupe of boy actors,
and performed at court before Queen Elizabeth.
The remainder of his career was devoted to
writing plays for the popular stage, only four
of which survive: a tragedy, The Battle of
Alcazar (c. 1589); a chronicle history, Edward I
(c. 1593); a biblical tragedy, The Love of King
David and Fair Bethsabe (1594); and his most
enduring achievement, the fantastical comic
romance The Old Wives’ Tale (c. 1591–94). He
also wrote commemorative poems and city
pageants.
