PRINCIPLE TYPES OF COMEDY – COMEDY OF HUMOURS
Comedy of humours represents a type of comic play brought into fashion in the 16 th century by the dramatist Ben Jonson. His play E veryman in his Humour first performed in 1598 is generally regarded as inaugurating the vogue for humour comedies on the English stage. Regarded as by far its greatest exponent, Jonson’s other important plays that served to establish the subgenre include Everyman Out of his Humour (1599), Volpone or The Fox (1606), Epicoene or The Silent Woman (1609), The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614). Beside Jonson, the playwright George Chapman is generally identified as a noteworthy exponent of this form of comedy. In fact, his play A Humorous Days Mirth (1597) is perhaps the first humour comedy to be produced, from which it is surmised Jonson derived his formula for Everyman in his Humour . Some other notable humour comedies by Chapman are All Fools (1609) and The Gentleman Usher (1610). In dealing with the comedy of humours, arguably t