Technogamia

Technogamia, or the Marriages of the Arts is a Jacobean era stage play, an allegory written by Barten Holyday that was first performed and published in 1618.

Technogamia was first staged on 13 February 1618 by the students of Christ Church, Oxford in Christ Church Hall. An academic play as opposed to the popular theatre of the time, Technogamia was a significant instance in the move away from the Latin language to English in academic drama – an evolution that was ongoing in its era, as marked by plays like Lingua, Albumazar, and Pathomachia.

Technogamia was revived for a Court performance on 26 August 1621, when it was staged for King James I at . James did not enjoy the performance, however, and more than once was ready to walk out, though he was prevailed upon to stay to the end for the sake of the young actors. This lack of success provoked some mockery; Barten Holyday earned the nickname "half Holyday," and satirical poems on the matter circulated in both universities. (Verses on the subject by Peter Heylin are most often cited in the critical literature.)

(James, who hated smoking and wrote A Counterblaste to Tobacco, could not have been pleased that the play included a song in praise of the habit. It begins,

— and continues in the same vein, comparing tobacco to a lawyer, a physician, a traveller, a critic and other figures.)

The play was published in 1618, in a quarto printed by William Stansby for the bookseller John Parker. A second quarto was issued in 1630, printed by John Haviland for Richard Meighen.

The allegorical form, so extensively employed in Medieval literature, was decidedly old-fashioned by the early 17th century; yet a few writers were still exploiting its potentials in the early Stuart era. In addition to Thomas Tomkis's Lingua, and Pathomachia (probably also by Tomkis), cited above, a list of allegorical plays from Holyday's period could include Nabbes's Microcosmus, Randolph's The Muses' Looking Glass, and William Strode's The Floating Island.

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