Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
SN ARCHIVES - Elizabethan Playwrights Series - Educational Programme - Blood and Money: Economic and Sexual Satire in Middleton’s A Chaste Maid in Cheapside - Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (c. 1613) is perhaps the most comprehensive and savage satirical portrait of Jacobean London, built around the fusion of sexual and ecAonomic corruption. The main plot revolves around the goldsmith Yellowhammer’s ruthless attempt to marry his "chaste maid," Moll, to the deeply immoral Sir Walter Whorehound for profit, symbolizing how marriage in the city has become a transaction defined by gold, not affection. This financial obsession extends to the Touchwood family, where the wife's tireless production of children is seen as an economic burden, underscoring the era's cynical devaluation of traditional domestic life. Through the Yellowhammers' desperation and Sir Walter’s predatory behavior, Middleton indicts the entire capitalist structure of Cheapside, where piety is a public performance and human beings are treated as commodities.
The play’s most shocking and effective satirical device is the character of Sir Walter Allwit, the gleeful and self-aware cuckold who epitomizes the ultimate moral compromise for financial gain. Allwit not only tolerates his wife's adultery with Whorehound but actively benefits from it, enjoying the clothes, food, and lavish home provided by his wife's lover. His infamous line, "How I am bound to him! He makes me rich, / He pays for the nursing of all my children," exposes the extreme hypocrisy of the time, where reputation and material comfort are valued above honor. The play culminates in a mock funeral and resurrection, a fantastical ending that barely disguises the play’s fundamental truth: that beneath the polished surface of Cheapside, the mad pursuit of profit has corrupted all social and familial bonds.
Production Note and Cast List: BBC Radio 3 Drama (1979)
This cast list is for the BBC Radio 3 full-cast production, first broadcast on Sunday, June 24, 1979, and directed by Martin Jenkins. This production is a crucial audio reference for academic study.
Cast List
Allwit: Richard Briers
Sir Walter Whorehound: Norman Rodway
Moll (Yellowhammer's daughter): Sarah Badel
Yellowhammer: Hugh Paddick
Maudline: Dilys Laye
Mrs Allwit: Petra Davies
Touchwood Senior: Mark Dignam
Mrs Touchwood: Josie Kidd
Touchwood Junior: James Laurenson
Harebrain: Stephen Thorne
Lady Kix: Siân Phillips
Sir Oliver Kix: Peter Jeffrey
Tim Yellowhammer: Andrew Branch
Tutor: Philip Voss
Davy Dahumma: Peter Baldwin
Welsh gentlewoman: Sharon Morgan
Country Wench / Wat: Tammy Ustinov
Maid: Jenny Twigge
Wet Nurse: Liza Flanagan
Parson: Roger Hammond
Waterman / Porter: Danny Schiller
Music by Christopher Whelen, played by members of the English Chambers Orchestra.
Sous-titres "Traduction automatique YouTube": En, De, It, Es, Pt, He, Ja, Zh, Hi
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_______________________________
🎓 Explore this video as part of the Shakespeare Network Educational Programme.
Our non-profit initiative promotes the study and performance of Shakespeare’s works through open-access resources.
Discover the full Academic Kit accompanying this video — including texts, annotated scripts, reading lists and teaching notes — entirely free of charge on our official website:
🌐 Full Academic Kit → shakespearenetwork.net/media-room
📚 This resource supports teachers, students, and theatre professionals interested in Renaissance literature, dramaturgy, and historical performance practice.
🗂 Related materials: - Free online courses and webinars - Research articles and curated editions - Live discussions and community projects
© Shakespeare Network, registered non-profit educational organisation.
_______________________________
SHAKESPEARE NETWORK - Screen Adaptation - Co-Production :
MISANTHROPOS – Official Website - misanthropos.net
Adapted by Maximianno Cobra, from Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens", the film exposes the timeless challenge of social hypocrisy, disillusion and annihilation against the poetics of friendship, love, and beauty.
_______________________________
#ShakespeareNetwork #EducationalVideo #OpenLearning #RenaissanceStudies#Exclusive# New# Original content
SN ARCHIVES - Elizabethan Playwrights Series - Educational Programme - Blood and Money: Economic and Sexual Satire in Middleton’s A Chaste Maid in Cheapside - Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (c. 1613) is perhaps the most comprehensive and savage satirical portrait of Jacobean London, built around the fusion of sexual and ecAonomic corruption. The main plot revolves around the goldsmith Yellowhammer’s ruthless attempt to marry his "chaste maid," Moll, to the deeply immoral Sir Walter Whorehound for profit, symbolizing how marriage in the city has become a transaction defined by gold, not affection. This financial obsession extends to the Touchwood family, where the wife's tireless production of children is seen as an economic burden, underscoring the era's cynical devaluation of traditional domestic life. Through the Yellowhammers' desperation and Sir Walter’s predatory behavior, Middleton indicts the entire capitalist structure of Cheapside, where piety is a public performance and human beings are treated as commodities.
The play’s most shocking and effective satirical device is the character of Sir Walter Allwit, the gleeful and self-aware cuckold who epitomizes the ultimate moral compromise for financial gain. Allwit not only tolerates his wife's adultery with Whorehound but actively benefits from it, enjoying the clothes, food, and lavish home provided by his wife's lover. His infamous line, "How I am bound to him! He makes me rich, / He pays for the nursing of all my children," exposes the extreme hypocrisy of the time, where reputation and material comfort are valued above honor. The play culminates in a mock funeral and resurrection, a fantastical ending that barely disguises the play’s fundamental truth: that beneath the polished surface of Cheapside, the mad pursuit of profit has corrupted all social and familial bonds.
Production Note and Cast List: BBC Radio 3 Drama (1979)
This cast list is for the BBC Radio 3 full-cast production, first broadcast on Sunday, June 24, 1979, and directed by Martin Jenkins. This production is a crucial audio reference for academic study.
Cast List
Allwit: Richard Briers
Sir Walter Whorehound: Norman Rodway
Moll (Yellowhammer's daughter): Sarah Badel
Yellowhammer: Hugh Paddick
Maudline: Dilys Laye
Mrs Allwit: Petra Davies
Touchwood Senior: Mark Dignam
Mrs Touchwood: Josie Kidd
Touchwood Junior: James Laurenson
Harebrain: Stephen Thorne
Lady Kix: Siân Phillips
Sir Oliver Kix: Peter Jeffrey
Tim Yellowhammer: Andrew Branch
Tutor: Philip Voss
Davy Dahumma: Peter Baldwin
Welsh gentlewoman: Sharon Morgan
Country Wench / Wat: Tammy Ustinov
Maid: Jenny Twigge
Wet Nurse: Liza Flanagan
Parson: Roger Hammond
Waterman / Porter: Danny Schiller
Music by Christopher Whelen, played by members of the English Chambers Orchestra.
Sous-titres "Traduction automatique YouTube": En, De, It, Es, Pt, He, Ja, Zh, Hi
YOUTUBE MEMBERSHIPS - Please choose your membership level and provide recurring support for our Education Programs, Archives, and In-house Productions - Your support truly makes a difference! - youtube.com/channel/UCBD1uffdDBLhkapQvl3EBmg/join
CHANNEL SUBSCRIPTION - Please consider subscribing to our channel - youtube.com/user/ShakespeareNetwork?sub_confirmation=1
_______________________________
🎓 Explore this video as part of the Shakespeare Network Educational Programme.
Our non-profit initiative promotes the study and performance of Shakespeare’s works through open-access resources.
Discover the full Academic Kit accompanying this video — including texts, annotated scripts, reading lists and teaching notes — entirely free of charge on our official website:
🌐 Full Academic Kit → shakespearenetwork.net/media-room
📚 This resource supports teachers, students, and theatre professionals interested in Renaissance literature, dramaturgy, and historical performance practice.
🗂 Related materials: - Free online courses and webinars - Research articles and curated editions - Live discussions and community projects
© Shakespeare Network, registered non-profit educational organisation.
_______________________________
SHAKESPEARE NETWORK - Screen Adaptation - Co-Production :
MISANTHROPOS – Official Website - misanthropos.net
Adapted by Maximianno Cobra, from Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens", the film exposes the timeless challenge of social hypocrisy, disillusion and annihilation against the poetics of friendship, love, and beauty.
_______________________________
#ShakespeareNetwork #EducationalVideo #OpenLearning #RenaissanceStudies#Exclusive# New# Original content
