Authors

British · 1583–1640

Philip Massinger

Philip Massinger was the most prolific of the Caroline playwrights and Fletcher's successor as principal playwright for the King's Men. His A New Way to Pay Old Debts (c. 1625) — centred on the magnificent villain Sir Giles Overreach, a rapacious land-grabber — was enormously popular in the nineteenth century, performed by Garrick, Kean, and later Olivier. He wrote with consistent craft across comedy and tragedy, though he has never received the critical attention of his more celebrated contemporaries.