Epicœne, or The silent woman, also known as
Epicene, is a
comedy by
Renaissance playwright
Ben Jonson. It was originally performed by the
Blackfriars Children or Children of the Queen's Revels, a group of
boy players, in
1609. It was, by Jonson's admission, a failure on its first presentation; however,
John Dryden and others championed it, and after the
Restoration it was frequently revived—indeed, a reference by
Samuel Pepys to a performance on 6 July 1660 places it among the first plays legally performed after Charles II's ascension.