The Renegado

The Renegado is one of the most shamelessly entertaining plays of its age, fetching its inspiration from a number of works by Cervantes, based on his own experiences as a captive in Algiers. Introducing the eroticised captivity narrative to the English stage, Massinger's tragicomedy combines it with the long-popular romance motif of a Christian hero's conquest of an exotic princess. But even as it indulges in romantic fantasy, The Renegado engages with contentious issues of national and international politics, offering a provocative response to the sectarian feuds dividing England in the 1620s, while exploiting wider European fears of the expansionist Muslim empire of the Ottomans.
The play is one of many of the period exploring the tantalising and sometimes threatening 'other' world of foreign religions and cultures and as such is studied alongside more familiar plays such as Othello and The Merchant of Venice. Through its treatment of religious confrontation and conversion, Massinger's play offers important insights into early modern constructions of the Islamic world, and emerges as a piece with unexpected resonances for our own time.
Michael Neill explores the themes as well as the pure theatrical joy of this fast-paced play, putting it in its historical context as well as discussing how it resonates with modern audiences and readers today.