The Antipodes, or The World Turned Upside Down

Shakespeare's Globe, Bankside, London, until 22 September 2000

Psychiatry provided a rich vein of mirth in the post-Shakespearean age. In The Antipodes (or The World Turned Upside Down) Richard Brome, playwright and manservant to Ben Jonson, introduced one of the first practising psychiatrists on to the English stage. The play, written in 1638, was performed at the Salisbury Court Theatre off Fleet Street, the last theatre to be built in London before the Puritans closed down all playhouses in 1642.