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Misha Teramura, Richard Topcliffe’s Informant: New Light on The Isle of Dogs, The Review of English Studies, Volume 68, Issue 283, February 2017, Pages 44–59, https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgw131
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In 1597 performances of a purportedly seditious play called The Isle of Dogs, written by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson, ignited a series of events that almost ended the commercial theatre industry itself. This article sheds new light on this notorious episode by identifying the man who brought the play to the attention of the authorities. The extant documentary evidence suggests that the extreme measures taken by the Privy Council were based on intelligence provided by a single unnamed source; drawing on biographical clues in a letter by the interrogator Richard Topcliffe to Sir Robert Cecil, this article argues that this source was William Udall. An examination of Udall’s career as an informant in England and Ireland suggests that he may have interpreted The Isle of Dogs as being complicit in Catholic plots against the English government. However, given his reputation as a fabulist, he may just as likely have simply fabricated his accusations as a way of ingratiating himself with Cecil.