Ben Jonson: Volpone

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New Mermaids is a series of over sixty modernised and fully annotated classic plays, with an active program of new editions. New Mermaids are edited and updated by experienced teachers who are internationally recognised as authorities in their field. They are ideal for, and accessible to, actors, theatre-goers and students and are printed in a clear, easy-to-use format, with annotations below the text and a comprehensive introduction. 

Volpone's reverential prayer to his heaps of gold launches the sharpest, funniest play about money and morals in the seventeenth century – a play still wickedly relevant on the same topics four centuries later. Ben Jonson's comedy depicts selfishness thinly veiled by sanctimonious speeches, lust and possessiveness poorly disguised as love and marriage, and cynical legalism passing itself off as pure justice, alongside snobbery, class warfare and greed.

The wily protagonists keep a dozen conventional plots spinning in the minds of their dupes, and when their amazing juggling act finally unravels, there are yet more twists – and an even deeper cynicism – to the story. The play is partly a beast-fable: the wily fox, Volpone, plays dead to lure flesh-eating birds that he can then consume. But the beasts are the human race, and polite society the biggest, greediest scam of them all.

This student edition contains a lengthy 'Introduction' with background on the author, date and sources, critical interpretation and stage history.