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Anne Oldfield
Anne Oldfield (168323 October 1730) was an English actress and one of the highest paid actresses of her time. Early life and discovery She was born in London in 1683. Her father was a soldier, James Oldfield. Her mother was either Anne or Elizabeth Blanchard. Her grandfather owned a tavern and left her father several properties, he however mortgaged these which resulted in Anne and her mother being placed in financial difficulty when he died young. It appears that Oldfield received some education because her biographers state that she read widely in her youth. Oldfield and her mother went to live with her aunt, Mrs Voss, in the Mitre tavern, St James. In 1699, she attracted George Farquhar's attention when he overheard her reciting lines from Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's play ''The Scornful Lady'' (1616) in a back room of her tavern. Soon after, she was hired by Christopher Rich to join the cast of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Career A year later she was cast in he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Portrait Gallery (London)
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it opened in 1856. The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off Trafalgar Square, and adjoining the National Gallery (London), National Gallery. It has been expanded twice since then. The National Portrait Gallery also has regional outposts at Beningbrough Hall in Yorkshire and Montacute House in Somerset. It is unconnected to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, with which its remit overlaps. The gallery is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Collection The gallery houses portraits of historically important and famous British people, selected on the basis of the significance of the sitter, not that of the artist. The collection includes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne, Queen Of Great Britain
Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 8 March 1702 until 1 May 1707. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united as a single sovereign state known as Great Britain. Anne continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death. Anne was born in the reign of Charles II to his younger brother and heir presumptive, James, whose suspected Roman Catholicism was unpopular in England. On Charles's instructions, Anne and her elder sister Mary were raised as Anglicans. Mary married their Dutch Protestant cousin, William III of Orange, in 1677, and Anne married Prince George of Denmark in 1683. On Charles's death in 1685, James succeeded to the throne, but just three years later he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Mary and William became joint monarchs. Although the sisters had been close, disagreements over Anne's finances, status, and choice of acquaintances ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Saunders
Margaret Saunders or Mrs Saunders (born 1686 - c. 1748) was a British actress. Life Saunders was born in Weymouth and attended a boarding school in Wiltshire before being apprenticed by a milliner. At the age of sixteen she began her acting career at Drury Lane Theatre due to an introduction by her lifelong friend Anne Oldfield. In 1708 and 1709 she was billed "Mrs Saunders" for her performances at Drury Lane. but it appears that she never married as she was declared a spinster when she died. Saunders appeared in many significant roles. Her comedy appearances were celebrated at a benefit performance in 1747 at the Theatre Royal. Saunders did not appear as she had been unable to leave her house for a year and a half. Selected roles * Wishwell in ''The Double Gallant'' by Colley Cibber (1707) * Mrs Flimsy in ''The Fine Lady's Airs'' by Thomas Baker (1708) * Patch in ''The Busie Body'' by Susanna Centlivre (1709) * Dorothy in ''The Man's Bewitched'' by Susanna Centlivre (1709) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felicity Nussbaum
Felicity A. Nussbaum (born 1944) is Distinguished Research Professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interests include 18th-century literature and culture, critical theory, gender studies and postcolonial and Anglophone studies. In the past she taught at Syracuse University and Indiana University South Bend. She earned B.A., ''magna cum laude'' from the Austin College and M.A. and Ph.D. from the Indiana University. Books *2010: Rival Queens: Actresses, Performance, and the Eighteenth-Century British Theater *2008: (co-ed. with Saree Makdisi) The Arabian Nights in Historical Context: Between East and West *2003: The Limits of the Human: Fictions of Anomaly, Race and Gender in the Long Eighteenth Century *2003: (ed.) The Global Eighteenth Century *:The 21 essays of the book are "contributions to the new field of 'critical global studies' of the long eighteenth century". *2000: “Defects”: Engendering the Modern Body *1995: Torrid Zones: Mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foote acquired the lease in 1747, and in 1766 he gained a royal patent to play legitimate drama (meaning spoken drama, as opposed to opera, concerts or plays with music) in the summer months. The original building was a little further north in the same street. It has been at its current location since 1821, when it was redesigned by John Nash. It is a Grade I listed building, with a seating capacity of 888. The freehold of the theatre is owned by the Crown Estate. The Haymarket has been the site of a significant innovation in theatre. In 1873, it was the venue for the first scheduled matinée performance, establishing a custom soon followed in theatres everywhere. Its managers have included Benjamin Nottingham Webster, John Baldwin Buckstone, S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susannah Centlivre
Susanna Centlivre (c. 1669 (baptised) – 1 December 1723), born Susanna Freeman and also known professionally as Susanna Carroll, was an English poet, actress, and "the most successful female playwright of the eighteenth century". Centlivre's "pieces continued to be acted after the theatre managers had forgotten most of her contemporaries." During a long career at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, she became known as the second woman of the English stage, after Aphra Behn. Life The main source of information on Centlivre's early life is Giles Jacob, who claimed he had received an account of it directly from her. This was published in ''The Poetical Register'' of 1719, yet it includes little information about her early life. Centlivre was probably baptised Susanna Freeman at Whaplode, Lincolnshire on 20 November 1669, as the daughter of William Freeman of Holbeach and his wife, Anne, the daughter of Mr Marham, a gentleman of Lynn Regis, Norfolk.J. Milling, "Centlivre , Susanna (bap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jane Rogers (actress, Died 1739)
Jane Rogers (died 1739) was a British stage actress. She was the illegitimate daughter of the actor Robert Wilks and Jane Rogers an actress. To distinguish her from her mother she was sometimes known as Jane Rogers the Younger. In 1717 she married Christopher Bullock, an actor-manager at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. He died in 1722 from consumption, after they had three children together. She continued to be a popular actress at Lincoln's Inn, and in 1732 moved with the rest of the company to the new Covent Garden Theatre. In 1736 as her career drew to a close she received a benefit performance at Covent Garden, and the following year another benefit was held at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. She died in Ireland two years later and was buried at Glasnevin.Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.403 Selected roles * Louisa in '' The Northern Heiress'' (1716) * Selinda in ''The Perfidious Brother'' (1716) * Mrs Winwife in ''The Artful Husband'' (1717) * Amidea in '' The Traitor' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Bracegirdle
Anne Bracegirdle (possibly 167112 September 1748) was an English actress. Biography Bracegirdle was born to Justinian and Martha (born Furniss) Bracegirdle in Northamptonshire. She was baptised in Northampton on 15 November 1671, although her tombstone says that she died at the age of 85 (suggesting that she was born around 1663)."Anne was baptized, probably as an infant, at St Giles, Northampton, on 15 November 1671 and was about seventy-seven when she died in 1748, rather than eighty-five, as recorded on her tombstone in Westminster Abbey." J. Milling, "Bracegirdle, Anne (bap. 1671, d. 1748)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 201accessed 1 June 2012/ref> She was probably raised by actors Thomas and Mary Betterton from an early age,J. Milling, "Bracegirdle, Anne (bap. 1671, d. 1748)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 201accessed 1 June 2012/ref> and it is speculated tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volpone
''Volpone'' (, Italian for "sly fox") is a comedy play by English playwright Ben Jonson first produced in 1605–1606, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-performed play, and it is ranked among the finest Jacobean era comedies. Characters * Volpone (the Sly Fox) – a greedy and rich childless Venetian ''magnifico'' * Mosca (the Fly) – his servant * Voltore (the Vulture) – a lawyer * Corbaccio (the Raven) – an avaricious old miser * Bonario – Corbaccio's son * Corvino (the Carrion Crow) – a merchant * Celia – Corvino's wife * Sir Politic Would-Be – ridiculous Englishman * Lady Would-Be (the parrot) – English lady and wife of Sir Politic-Would-Be * Peregrine ("Pilgrim") – another, more sophisticated, English traveller * Nano – a dwarf, companion of Volpone * Androgyno – a hermaphrodite, companion of Volpone * Castrone – a eunuch, companion of Volpone * The Avocatori – the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satirical plays ''Every Man in His Humour'' (1598), '' Volpone, or The Fox'' (c. 1606), '' The Alchemist'' (1610) and '' Bartholomew Fair'' (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. "He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I." Jonson was a classically educated, well-read and cultured man of the English Renaissance with an appetite for controversy (personal and political, artistic and intellectual) whose cultural influence was of unparalleled breadth upon the playwrights and the poets of the Jacobean era (1603–1625) and of the Caroline era (1625–1642)."Ben Jonson", ''Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge'', volume 10, p. 388. His ancestor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
