Fletcher, John (1579-1625), was an English playwright. For many years, Fletcher’s plays were as highly praised as Shakespeare‘s and Ben Jonson‘s. Working for the King’s Men, the same theatrical company run earlier by William Shakespeare, Fletcher wrote many kinds of drama. However, his fame centers on his skillfully theatrical tragicomedies and on such comedies of manners as The Wild Goose-Chase (1621). Like plays written a half century later during the Restoration period (1660-1700), this play was meant to please a pleasure-loving, sophisticated upper-class audience.
Fletcher was born in Sussex and educated at Cambridge University. His success began with his famous collaboration with Francis Beaumont (about 1608-1614), including Philaster (1609) and The Maid’s Tragedy (1609). But Fletcher wrote some plays independently before, and many after, this association. Many of the so-called “Beaumont and Fletcher” plays belong solely to Fletcher or to Fletcher working with others (see Beaumont, Francis). Shakespeare probably wrote The Two Noble Kinsmen and Henry VIII with Fletcher. Fletcher died on Aug. 29, 1625.
See also Two Noble Kinsmen, The.
