A 400-year-old play, which captures how the delights and difficulties of courtship have changed (or not), is now freely available on film thanks to a Lancaster University academic.

‘Love’s Victory’, by Shakespeare’s contemporary Lady Mary Wroth, was written c.1617-1619 and is the earliest surviving romantic comedy by an Englishwoman.

It was staged at the author’s home, Penshurst Place in Kent, in 2022 and a film of the live performance is now available with free public access.

The performance is the result of nearly 30 years’ work by Professor Alison Findlay from Lancaster University.

Her research project, ‘Shakespeare and His Sisters’ was set up to explore the works of Shakespeare and his female contemporary dramatists in site specific locations.

Alison Findlay is a Professor of Renaissance Drama in the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University and Chair of the British Shakespeare Association.

She co-edited the play from the only complete manuscript copy for Manchester University Press and a paperback was published in 2022.

The 2022 production, directed by Emma Rucastle and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Lancaster University, was designed to recreate the conditions of an early household performance. It is the first time this has been attempted with a female-authored play.

Professor Findlay said: “I am delighted the film brings a wider audience to experience the intensity of passion, the early music, the spectacle, and the unique intimacy between performers and spectators that combine so magically in Wroth’s play.

“The play allows us to look back and see how the delights and difficulties of courtship have changed – or not – over 400 years.

“On Valentine’s Day it’s a celebration to hear Wroth’s Venus declare ‘Then shall we have again our ancient glory / And let this callèd be Love’s Victory’.”