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A Bold Stroke For A Husband
''A Bold Stroke for a Husband'' is a 1783 comedy play by the British writer Hannah Cowley. The title is a variation on Susanna Centlivre's ''A Bold Stroke for a Wife''. The original Covent Garden cast included William Thomas Lewis as Don Julio, Richard Wroughton as Don Carlos, John Quick as Don Caesar, John Edwin as Don Vincentio, Richard Wilson as Gasper, John Whitfield as Don Garcia, James Fearon as Vasquez, Mary Robinson as Victoria, Sarah Maria Wilson as Minette, Mary Whitfield as Laura, Harriet Pitt as Sancha and Isabella Mattocks as Olivia. The epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ... was written by John O'Keeffe. The play is in five acts and is set in Madrid. References Bibliography * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of English Drama 1660–1900: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hannah Cowley (writer)
Hannah Cowley (14 March 1743 – 11 March 1809) was an English playwright and poet. Although Cowley's plays and poetry did not enjoy wide popularity after the 19th century, critic Melinda Finberg rates her as "one of the foremost playwrights of the late eighteenth century" whose "skill in writing fluid, sparkling dialogue and creating sprightly, memorable comic characters compares favourably with her better-known contemporaries, Goldsmith and Sheridan." Cowley's plays were produced frequently in her lifetime. The major themes of her plays – including her first, ''The Runaway'' (1776), and her major success, which is being revived, ''The Belle's Stratagem'' (1780) – revolve around marriage and how women strive to overcome the injustices imposed by family life and social custom. Early success Born Hannah Parkhouse, she was the daughter of Hannah (née Richards) and Philip Parkhouse, a bookseller in Tiverton, Devon. Sources disagree about some details of her married life, cit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Robinson (poet)
Mary Robinson (née Darby; 27 November 1757 – 26 December 1800) was an English actress, poet, dramatist, novelist, and celebrity figure. She lived in England, in the cities of Bristol and London; she also lived in France and Germany for a time. She enjoyed poetry from the age of seven and started working, first as a teacher and then as actress, from the age of fourteen. She wrote many plays, poems and novels. She was a celebrity, gossiped about in newspapers, famous for her acting and writing. During her lifetime she was known as "the English Sappho". She earned her nickname "Perdita" for her role as Perdita (heroine of Shakespeare's ''The Winter's Tale'') in 1779. She was the first public mistress of King George IV while he was still Prince of Wales. Biography Early life Robinson was born in Bristol, England to Nicholas Darby, a naval captain, and his wife Hester (née Vanacott) who had married at Donyatt, Somerset, in 1749, and was baptised 'Polle(y)' ("Spelt 'Polle' in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West End Plays
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance languages (''ouest'' in French, ''oest'' in Catalan, ''ovest'' in Italian, ''oeste'' in Spanish and Portuguese). As in other languages, the word formation stems from the fact that west is the direction of the setting sun in the evening: 'west' derives from the Indo-European root ''*wes'' reduced from ''*wes-pero'' 'evening, night', cognate with Ancient Greek ἕσπερος hesperos 'evening; evening star; western' and Latin vesper 'evening; west'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin occidens 'west' from occidō 'to go down, to set' and Hebrew מַעֲרָב maarav 'west' from עֶרֶב erev 'evening'. Navigation To go west using a compass for navigation (in a place where magnetic north is the same dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Plays
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term originated in ancient Greece: in Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing '' agon'' or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1783 Plays
Events January–March * January 20 – At Versailles, Great Britain signs preliminary peace treaties with the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain. * January 23 – The Confederation Congress ratifies two October 8, 1782, treaties signed by the United States with the United Netherlands. * February 3 – American Revolutionary War: Great Britain acknowledges the independence of the United States of America. At this time, the Spanish government does not grant diplomatic recognition. * February 4 – American Revolutionary War: Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States. * February 5 – 1783 Calabrian earthquakes: The first of a sequence of five earthquakes strikes Calabria, Italy (February 5–7, March 1 & 28), leaving 50,000 dead. * February 7 – The Great Siege of Gibraltar is abandoned. * February 26 – The United States Continental Army's Corps of Engineers is disbanded. * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John O'Keeffe (writer)
John O'Keeffe (24 June 1747 – 4 February 1833) was an Irish actor and dramatist. He wrote a number of farces, amusing dramatic pieces and librettos for pasticcio operas, many of which had great success. Among these are '' Tony Lumpkin in Town'' (1778), ''Love in a Camp'' (1786), and ''Omai'' (1785), an account of the voyages of the Tahitian explorer Omai, and '' Wild Oats'' (1791). Early life O'Keeffe was born in Abbey Street, Dublin in 1747 to Roman Catholic parents and was educated by the Jesuits. His father was from King's County and his mother (née O'Connor) from County Wexford. After showing a talent for drawing he studied art at an academy in Dublin, but grew increasingly more interested in the theatre. After a two-year period in London, where he became an admirer of David Garrick, he settled on a career as an actor and playwright. O'Keeffe wrote his first play ''The She Gallant'' when he was twenty, and it was performed in Dublin at the Smock Alley Theatre. In Cork, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epilogue
An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the work. It is presented from the perspective of within the story. When the author steps in and speaks directly to the reader, that is more properly considered an afterword. The opposite is a prologue—a piece of writing at the ''beginning'' of a work of literature or drama, usually used to open the story and capture interest. Some genres, for example television programs and video games, call the epilogue an "outro" patterned on the use of "intro" for "introduction". Epilogues are usually set in the future, after the main story is completed. Within some genres it can be used to hint at the next installment in a series of work. It is also used to satisfy the reader's curiosity and to cover any loose ends of the story. History of the term T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isabella Mattocks
Isabella Mattocks (1746 – June 25, 1826) was a British actress and singer. Early life Hallam (later Mattocks) was baptised in Whitechapel in 1746 by Lewis and Sarah Hallam Douglass. Her father and her uncle William were also actors.Jared Brown, ‘Hallam, Lewis (1714?–1756?)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200accessed 7 Feb 2015/ref> Her grandfather Thomas Hallam had been part of the Drury Lane company when he was killed in a dispute with fellow actor Charles Macklin during a performance. When her father and William decided to try acting in America they took three of Isabella's siblings, but she was left in the care of her aunt, Ann, and her husband John Barrington in England. In 1762 she made her debut in the adult role of Juliet. For most of her childhood except for a few years at school she played small parts in the productions of the Covent Garden company of actors. When she was sixteen she joined the company and in 1765 she marrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harriet Pitt
Harriet Pitt (12 October 1748 – 10 December 1814) was a British actress and dancer. Life Pitt was born to Ann Pitt who was an actress. In 1758 she was appearing doing recitations. The theatrical career did not involve major parts but she did appear at the Drury Lane Theatre and the Covent Garden Theatre. Her first child was George Cecil Pitt (baptised 1767 – 1820), fathered by George Anderson. George Cecil Pitt became a musician and was the father of the dramatist George Dibdin Pitt, who as a young man took Dibdin as his middle name in honour of his uncles, Harriet's later sons. She established a relationship with Charles Dibdin who already had a family and together they had four children. The eldest was the songwriter Charles Isaac Mungo Dibdin who was born in 1768. The next, a daughter, Harriott, was born in 1770 and died in infancy. Another son and songwriter was Thomas John Dibdin who was born in 1771. A second daughter, known also as Harriet Pitt (1772-1836) became an a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Whitfield
Mary Whitfield (died 1795) was a British stage actress. She was born Mary Lane, but following her marriage to John Whitfield she appeared on the stage as Mrs Whitfield. She acted in Leicester and Norwich before moving to London in 1774, where she was variously part of the Covent Garden, Drury Lane and Haymarket companies. Primarily known for her comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ... roles, she also played Shakesperian parts on occasion.Cox & Gamer p.426 References Bibliography * Cox, Jeffrey N. & Gamer, Michael. ''The Broadview Anthology of Romantic Drama''. Broadview Press, 2003. * Highfill, Philip H, Burnim, Kalman A. & Langhans, Edward A. ''A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Maria Wilson
Sarah Maria Wilson (died 1786) was an English actress. Early life Her maiden name was Adcock. She acted in York, where, as Mrs. Weston, in the summer of 1773 she played Lucy Lockit in the ''Beggar's Opera'', Miss Notable in the 'Lady's Last Stake,' and other comic parts. The London stage After appearing in Leeds, where she became a favourite, and in Glasgow in 1774, she came to London. There she came to know Richard Wilson, and as Mrs. Wilson she played at the Haymarket Theatre on 19 May 1775, Betsy Blossom in ''The Cozeners'', and Lucy in ''The Virgin Unmasked''. She was seen in her first Haymarket season as Lucy in ''The Mirror'', Nell in the 'Devil to Pay,' Lydia in the 'Bankrupt,' Sophy in the 'Dutchman,' and Juletta (an original part) in 'Metamorphoses' (26 August 1775). On 30 April 1776 she was at Covent Garden, for Wilson's benefit, Hoyden in the 'Man of Quality.' In the summer of 1776 and that of 1777 she was in Liverpool. At Covent Garden she had played meanwhile Polly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Fearon (actor)
James Fearon (1746–1789) was a British stage actor. From 1768 to 1771 he acted in Edinburgh and Glasgow, before making his London debut at Haymarket Theatre. He appeared in London until his death, mainly at the Covent Garden Theatre, whose company he joined in 1774.Cox & Gamer pp. 418–19 Selected roles * Benfield senior in '' The Maid of Bath'' by Samuel Foote (1771) * Coachman in ''The Rivals'' by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1775) * Sir John Millamour in Know Your Own Mind by Arthur Murphy (1777) * Officer in ''The Count of Narbonne'' by Robert Jephson (1781) * David in ''More Ways Than One ''More Ways Than One'' is a 1783 comedy play by the British writer Hannah Cowley.Nicoll p.249 The original Covent Garden cast included William Thomas Lewis as Bellair, John Quick as Doctor Freelove, John Edwin as Sir Marvel Mushroom, Ralph Wew ...'' by Hannah Cowley (1783) * Vasquez in '' A Bold Stroke for a Husband'' by Hannah Cowley (1783) References Bibliography * Cox, Jeffre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
