# The Chances > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Chances > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Chances.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chances > Source revision: 1307832282 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) ***The Chances*** is a [Jacobean](/source/Literature_in_English#Jacobean_literature) era stage play, a comedy written by [John Fletcher](/source/John_Fletcher_(playwright)). It was one of Fletcher's great popular successes, "frequently performed and reprinted in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries."[1] The play's Prologue assigns the play to Fletcher alone; since his distinctive pattern of [stylistic and textual features](/source/Stylometry) is continuous through the play, scholars and critics regard Fletcher's sole authorship as clear and unambiguous. ## Source and date For the plot of his play, Fletcher depended upon [Miguel de Cervantes](/source/Miguel_de_Cervantes), one of his regular sources; *The Chances* borrows from *La Señora Cornelia*, one of the *Novelas ejemplares*, first published in Spain in 1613 and translated into French in 1615. (Fletcher exploited another of the *Novelas* for his [*Love's Pilgrimage*](/source/Love's_Pilgrimage_(play)).) The play must have originated between this period (scholars dispute Fletcher's knowledge of Spanish) and the dramatist's death in 1625. Current scholarship assigns the play to 1617 (it refers to [Jonson's](/source/Ben_Jonson) *[The Devil is an Ass](/source/The_Devil_is_an_Ass),* performed the previous year), as a work staged by the [King's Men](/source/King's_Men_(playing_company)) at the [Blackfriars Theatre](/source/Blackfriars_Theatre).[2] ## After 1642 During the years of the [English Civil War](/source/English_Civil_War) and the [Interregnum](/source/English_Interregnum) when the London theatres were officially closed to full-length plays (1642–60), material from *The Chances* was extracted to form a [droll](/source/Droll) titled *The Landlady,* which was later printed by [Francis Kirkman](/source/Francis_Kirkman) in his collection [*The Wits*](/source/Francis_Kirkman#The_Wits_(Drolls)) (1672). The play was revived early in the [Restoration](/source/English_Restoration) era; [Samuel Pepys](/source/Samuel_Pepys) saw it in 1660, 1661, and 1667. Like many Fletcherian works, the play was adapted during the Restoration; one popular adaptation by [George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham](/source/George_Villiers%2C_2nd_Duke_of_Buckingham), was first staged in 1682, and was a hit for its star, [Charles Hart](/source/Charles_Hart_(17th-century_actor)). David Garrick staged another popular adaptation in 1773. In 1821, [Frederick Reynolds](/source/Frederick_Reynolds_(writer)) staged a musical version of *The Chances* under the title *Don Juan, or The Two Violettas*. ## Publication The play was originally published in the [first Beaumont and Fletcher folio](/source/Beaumont_and_Fletcher_folios) of 1647, and was included in the second folio of 1679. Adapted versions were printed to accompany [Restoration](/source/English_Restoration) productions: Buckingham's text in 1682, 1692, 1705, 1780, 1791, and after; Garrick's in 1773,[3] 1774, and 1777.[4] ## Synopsis The playwright chose an unusual and rather modern-seeming approach for the opening of this play: in place of the type of exposition common in English Renaissance plays (see *[The Tempest](/source/The_Tempest),* Act I scene ii for a famously verbose example), Fletcher forces the audience to piece together the plot through a series of short action scenes. (There are fully eleven scenes in Act I.) The play is set in [Bologna](/source/Bologna). The opening scene introduces Don John and Don Frederick, two Spanish gentlemen visiting the city; they have come to view a famous beauty, but so far without success. The two friends agree to meet on the city's high street at evening – but when the time comes they manage to miss each other. As the city's other houses are being shut up for the night, John sees one that remains open and well-lit; curious, he looks in, and is confronted by a woman who thrusts a mysterious bundle into his arms. He leaves with the bundle, naively hoping that it contains a treasure of gold and jewels; instead he finds that it encloses...a baby. He takes the infant back to his lodgings; his landlady is outraged, assuming that he has brought home his own bastard. With a gift of a bottle of wine and the application of its contents, the landlady is mollified, and she agrees to find care and a wet-nurse for the child. Don John leaves, once again in search of his friend. Don Frederick, meanwhile, is still out in the city's streets, looking for Don John. A strange woman accosts him, mistaking him for the man she hopes to meet; when she discovers her error, she appeals to his sense of honour to protect her and guide her to safety. Being an honourable fellow, Frederick agrees, and takes her back to his lodging. (The woman turns out to be Costantia, the famous beauty they came to see.) The streets clearly are not safe; two bands of armed men are prowling the city. One is led by the Duke of [Ferrara](/source/Ferrara), the man Costantia was expecting to meet; the other is led by Petrucchio, the governor of Bologna and Costantia's brother. The parties meet, and fight; Don John stumbles upon the Duke as he is beset by Petrucchio and his men. Offended by the unfair odds, John draws his sword, fights on the Duke's side, and drives off the attackers, wounding Petrucchio's kinsman Antonio. It is gradually revealed that Petrucchio is looking for revenge against the Duke for seducing and impregnating his sister Costantia; the mystery baby is their son. John and Frederick are caught up in the affair – but they manage to ascertain that the Duke and Costantia are [pre-contracted](/source/History_of_marriage_in_Great_Britain_and_Ireland) to marry, which palliates Petrucchio's offended honour. Further complications ensue, however. Costantia confesses her situation to the landlady, and the two women realise that the mystery baby is her son; the landlady takes Costantia to see the baby – which means that both are missing when John and Frederick return. The two friends overhear a young musician named Francisco talking about a woman named Costantia, and they assume he means the Costantia they know – which leads them to doubt the woman's truthfulness and chastity. The situation causes the two friends to begin to suspect each other, and Petrucchio and the Duke to suspect them in turn. The muddle is eventually straightened out, when the four men track down this Costantia and learn that she is another woman of the same name – she is Antonio's courtezan, who has robbed him of gold and jewels, expecting him to die of his wounds. The four men are still seeking the aristocratic Costantia; they consult a scholar who has a reputation for conjuring devils and using them to find hidden things and people. The four witness a display of ersatz magic that evokes Costantia and the baby; in the end they learn that the conjuring was staged, and all the parties are re-united for a happy ending. ## Modern performances *The Chances* received a rare twentieth-century production in 1962, when it was staged by [Laurence Olivier](/source/Laurence_Olivier) at the [Chichester Festival Theatre](/source/Chichester_Festival_Theatre). ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Terence P. Logan and Denzell S. Smith, eds., *The Later Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama,* Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1978; p. 36. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Andrew Gurr](/source/Andrew_John_Gurr), *The Shakespearean Stage, 1574–1642,* Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992; p. 234. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [John Fletcher](/source/John_Fletcher_(playwright)); [George Villiers](/source/George_Villiers%2C_2nd_Duke_of_Buckingham); [David Garrick](/source/David_Garrick) (1773). [*The Chances. A Comedy. With Alterations*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ugdXAAAAcAAJ). London: Printed for the proprietors: And sold by T[homas] Becket, near Surry-Street, in the Strand. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [8852449](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/8852449).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_numeric_names:_authors_list)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Alfred Claghorn Potter, *A Bibliography of Beaumont and Fletcher,* Cambridge, MA, Library of Harvard University, 1895; p. 6. v t e The "Beaumont and Fletcher" Canon Francis Beaumont John Fletcher Philip Massinger Nathan Field William Shakespeare James Shirley Thomas Middleton William Rowley John Ford Ben Jonson George Chapman John Webster Plays (some attributions conjectural) Beaumont The Knight of the Burning Pestle The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn Beaumont and Fletcher The Woman Hater Cupid's Revenge The Coxcomb Philaster The Captain The Maid's Tragedy A King and No King Love's Pilgrimage The Scornful Lady The Noble Gentleman Fletcher The Faithful Shepherdess The Woman's Prize Valentinian Bonduca Monsieur Thomas The Mad Lover The Chances The Loyal Subject Women Pleased The Humorous Lieutenant The Island Princess The Pilgrim The Wild Goose Chase A Wife for a Month Rule a Wife and Have a Wife Fletcher and Massinger †Barnavelt The Little French Lawyer The False One The Double Marriage The Custom of the Country The Lovers' Progress The Spanish Curate The Prophetess The Sea Voyage The Elder Brother †A Very Woman Fletcher and others with Beaumont & Massinger Thierry and Theodoret Beggars' Bush Love's Cure with Massinger & Field The Honest Man's Fortune The Queen of Corinth The Knight of Malta with Field Four Plays, or Moral Representations, in One with Shakespeare †Henry VIII The Two Noble Kinsmen with Shirley The Night Walker Wit Without Money with Rowley The Maid in the Mill with Massinger, Chapman & Jonson Rollo, Duke of Normandy with Massinger, Ford & Webster The Fair Maid of the Inn Others The Nice Valour (Middleton) Wit at Several Weapons (Middleton & Rowley) The Laws of Candy (Ford) The Coronation (Shirley) Performance and publication English Renaissance theatre King's Men Beaumont and Fletcher folios Humphrey Moseley Humphrey Robinson Related †The History of Cardenio (Shakespeare & Fletcher?) †Double Falsehood (possibly based on Cardenio) † = Not published in the Beaumont and Fletcher folios --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Chances](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chances) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chances?action=history)). 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