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A Fool's Preferment
''A Fool's Preferment; Or, The Three Dukes Of Dunstable'' is a 1688 comedy play by the English writer Thomas D'Urfey. It is a reworking of John Fletcher's Jacobean work ''The Noble Gentleman''. It was first performed by the United Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London. Henry Purcell composed the play's incidental music. It was his first major work composing for the theatre in seven years since ''Sir Barnaby Whigg''. The original cast featured James Nokes as Cocklebrain, Anthony Leigh as Justice, William Mountfort as Lyonel, Edward Kynaston as Clermont, George Powell as Longevile, John Bowman as Bewford, Thomas Jevon as Toby, Martin Powell as Usher and Elizabeth Boutell Elizabeth Boutell (early 1650s?—1715), was a British actress. Life She joined, soon after its formation, the company at the Theatre Royal, subsequently known as Drury Lane, and was accordingly one of the first women to appear on the English st ... as Aurelia.Van Lennep p.362-63 References Bibl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas D'Urfey
Thomas d'Urfey (a.k.a. Tom Durfey; 165326 February 1723) was an English writer and wit. He wrote plays, songs, jokes, and poems. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the ballad opera. Life D'Urfey was born in Devonshire and began his professional life as a scrivener, but quickly turned to the theatre. In personality, he was considered so affable and amusing that he could make friends with nearly everyone, including such disparate characters as Charles II of England and his brother James II, and in all layers of society. D'Urfey lived in an age of self-conscious elitism and anti-egalitarianism, a reaction against the "leveling" tendencies of the previous Puritan reign during the Interregnum. D'Urfey participated in the Restoration's dominant atmosphere of social climbing: he claimed to be of French Huguenot descent, though he might not have been; and he added an apostrophe to the plain English name Durfey when he was in his 30s. He wrote 500 songs, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Leigh
Anthony Leigh (died 1692) was a celebrated English comic actor. Life He was from a Northamptonshire family, and was not closely related to the actor John Leigh (c.1689–1726?). He joined the Duke of York's company about 1672, and appeared in that year at the recently opened theatre in Dorset Garden, as the original Pacheco in ''The Reformation'' (1673), a comedy ascribed by Gerard Langbaine to one Arrowsmith, a Cambridge M.A. graduate. At Dorset Garden, Leigh played many original parts. After the merger of the duke's company with the king's in 1682, Leigh did not immediately go to the Theatre Royal. He was in 1683, however, at that theatre the original Bartoline in John Crowne's ''City Politics'', and played Bessus in a revival of ''A King and No King''. Here he remained until his death, creating many characters.They included: Beaugard's Father in Otway's ''The Atheist'', Rogero in Thomas Southerne's ''The Disappointment'', Sir Paul Squelch in Richard Brome's ''Northern Lass'' ... [...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] |
1688 Plays
Events January–March * January 2 – Fleeing from the Spanish Navy, French pirate Raveneau de Lussan and his 70 men arrive on the west coast of Nicaragua, sink their boats, and make a difficult 10 day march to the city of Ocotal. * January 5 – Pirates Charles Swan and William Dampier and the crew of the privateer ''Cygnet'' become the first Englishmen to set foot on the continent of Australia. * January 11 – The Patta Fort and the Avandha Fort, located in what is now India's Maharashtra state near Ahmednagar, are captured from the Maratha clan by Mughul Army commander Matabar Khan. The Mughal Empire rules the area 73 years. * January 17 – Ilona Zrínyi, who has defended the Palanok Castle in Hungary from Austrian Imperial forces since 1685, is forced to surrender to General Antonio Caraffa. * January 29 – Madame Jeanne Guyon, French mystic, is arrested in France and imprisoned for seven months. * January 30 (January 20, 1687 old styl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Boutell
Elizabeth Boutell (early 1650s?—1715), was a British actress. Life She joined, soon after its formation, the company at the Theatre Royal, subsequently known as Drury Lane, and was accordingly one of the first women to appear on the English stage. Her earliest recorded appearance took place presumably in 1663 or 1664, as Estifania in ''Rule a Wife and Have a Wife''. She joined the King's Company about 1670 and played many important roles in the 1670s, including Benzayda in John Dryden's ''The Conquest of Granada'' (December 1670 and January 1671), and probably Rosalinda in Nathaniel Lee's ''Sophonisba'' (3 April 1675). She "created" among other characters, Melantha in Dryden's '' Marriage à la mode'' (c. April 1672), Margery Pinchwife in William Wycherley's '' The Country Wife'' (12 January 1675), Cleopatra in Dryden's '' All for Love'', and Mrs. Termagant in Shadwell's ''The Squire of Alsatia''. Cibber somewhat curiously omits from his ''Apology'' all mention of her name. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Powell (actor)
Martin Powell was an English stage actor of the seventeenth century. Powell was a member of the King's Company from 1669 onwards at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. He was one of several actors who briefly left for Scotland in 1678 after a dispute with the management, before returning to Drury Lane. In 1682 he joined the merged United Company. Billed throughout his career as Mr. Powell, some of his later appearances can be confused with those of his son George Powell. In 1675 along with John Coysh he appeared in a private production of John Dryden's '' The Indian Emperour'' staged by the Duchess of Portsmouth and an otherwise amateur cast.Walkling p.78 Selected roles * Gomel in '' The Conquest of Granada'' by John Dryden (1670) * Larasco in '' The Spanish Rogue'' by Thomas Duffet (1673) * Furfante in ''The Amorous Old Woman'' by Thomas Duffett (1674) * Mirmilon in ''Nero'' by Nathaniel Lee (1674) * Proveditor in '' Love in the Dark'' by Francis Fane (1675) * Costard i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Jevon
Thomas Jevon (1652–1688) was an English playwright, and one of the first English Harlequins. He began his career as a dancing master, but worked his way onto the stage, and played leading low-comedy parts in London between 1673 and 1688. His brother-in-law was the English playwright and poet laureate Thomas Shadwell. Jevon's only published play, the farce '' The Devil of a Wife, or, a Comical Transformation'' (with a plot borrowed from a Philip Sidney story, and possibly some assistance from Shadwell), was performed in 1686 at Dorset Garden, where Jevon usually acted. Jevon and George Powell played the two leading roles, and the piece achieved great success. Various versions with added music appeared later, and Charles Coffey Charles Coffey (late 17th century – 13 May 1745) was an Irish playwright, opera librettist and arranger of music from Westmeath. Following the initial failure of his ballad opera '' The Beggar’s Wedding'' (Dublin, Smock Alley Theatre, 24 Ma ... us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bowman (actor)
John Bowman (1651–1739) was a British stage actor.''The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama'' p.XXXVIII He began his career in the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre. In 1692 he married Elizabeth Watson, who acted under the name Elizabeth Bowman. He later switched to act at the Drury Lane Theatre. He is also referred to as John Boman. Selected roles * Peter Santloe in ''The Counterfeit Bridegroom'' by Aphra Behn (1677) * Saunter in '' Friendship in Fashion'' by Thomas Otway (1678) * Patroclus in '' The Destruction of Troy'' by John Banks (1678) * Pisander in '' The Loyal General'' by Nahum Tate (1679) * Crotchett '' The Virtuous Wife'' by Thomas D'Urfey (1679) * Patroclus in ''Troilus and Cressida'' by John Dryden (1679) * Mr Shatter in '' The Revenge'' by Aphra Behn (1680) * Duke of Clarence in ''The Misery of Civil War'' by John Crowne (1680) * Atticus in ''Theodosius'' by Nathaniel Lee (1680) * Dreswell in ''The City Heiress'' by Aphra Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Powell (playwright)
George Powell (1668? – 1714) was a 17th-century London actor and playwright who was a member of the United Company. He was the son of the actor Martin Powell, a long-standing member of the King's Company. Plays In his playwrighting Powell has been called 'an unscrupulous and opportunistic appropriator, gleaning materials from a variety of sources'. He was embroiled in a plagiarism scandal after writing a misogynistic play called ''The Imposture Defeated; or, A Trick to Cheat the Devil'', first performed in September 1697. This play portrayed the proper treatment of an adulteress as brutal confinement and isolation from others to punish her and prevent the spread of her attitude. It is widely accepted that Powell had plagiarised from the then unpublished manuscript of Mary Pix's ''The Deceiver Deceived''. Theatre critic Charles Gildon called Powell's version the inferior of the two. Powell also wrote the plays '' Alphonso, King of Naples'' (first performed in December 1690 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Kynaston (actor)
Edward Kynaston (c. 1640 – January 1706) was an English actor, one of the last Restoration "boy players", young male actors who played women's roles. Career Kynaston was good looking and made a convincing woman: Samuel Pepys called him "the loveliest lady that ever I saw in my life" after seeing him in a production of John Fletcher's ''The Loyal Subject'' at the Cockpit-in-Court, "only her voice snot very good". He also played the title role in Ben Jonson's '' Epicoene''. Pepys had dinner with Kynaston after this production on 18 August 1660. Simultaneously, Kynaston played male roles as well. He filled the role of Otto in ''Rollo Duke of Normandy'' on 6 December 1660, having played the female role of Arthiope in the same play in previous weeks. On 7 January 1661, Kynaston played three roles in a performance of Jonson's '' Epicoene'', one female and two male. Part of Kynaston's appeal may have been his ambiguous sexuality. The actor Colley Cibber recalled: "the Ladies of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Mountfort
William Mountfort (c. 1664 – 10 December 1692), England, English actor and dramatic writer, was the son of a Staffordshire gentleman. Biography His first stage appearance was with the Dorset Garden Theatre company about 1678, and by 1682 he was taking important parts, usually those of the fine gentleman. Mountfort wrote a number of plays, wholly or in part, and many prologues and epilogues. In 1686 he married the actress Susanna Verbruggen, Susanna Percival. Owing to jealousy of Mrs. Anne Bracegirdle, Anne Bracegirdle's supposed interest in Mountfort, Captain Richard Hill, an adventurer, who had annoyed her with persistent attentions, accompanied by Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun, Charles Mohun, Baron Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun ambushed Mountfort in Howard Street, Strand, London, Strand, on 9 December 1692. During the struggle Mountfort was stabbed in the chest by Hill, and he died of his wounds the following day. Following the attack Hill fled to France. Lord Mohun was trie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Nokes
James Nokes (Noke, Noak, Noakes) (died c.1692) was an English actor, whose laughter-arousing genius was attested by Cibber and other contemporaries. Life Nokes was one of the male actors who played female roles in the newly reopened playhouses shortly after the Restoration of Charles II. This practice didn't last long, as Thomas Killigrew's King's Company put the first English actress on the stage on December 1660, and from then on they appeared more and more frequently, until in 1662 Charles II ordered that only women should play female roles. There was a brief period in late 1660 and early 1661 when both men and women were playing female roles. On 29 January 1661, the diarist Samuel Pepys went to the Duke’s playhouse, where "after great patience and little expectation, from so poor beginning, I saw three acts of ‘The Mayd in ye Mill’ acted to my great content." It was Nokes who was playing the title female role of the Mayd. Sir Martin Mar-all, Sir Davy Dunce and Sir Cre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
