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Droll
A droll is a short comical sketch of a type that originated during the Puritan Interregnum in England. With the closure of the theatres, actors were left without any way of plying their art. Borrowing scenes from well-known plays of the Elizabethan theatre, they added dancing and other entertainments and performed these, sometimes illegally, to make money. Along with the popularity of the source play, material for drolls was generally chosen for physical humor or for wit. Francis Kirkman's ''The Wits, or Sport Upon Sport'', 1662, is a collection of twenty-seven drolls. Three are adapted from Shakespeare: ''Bottom the Weaver'' from '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', the gravedigger's scene from ''Hamlet'', and a collection of scenes involving Falstaff called ''The Bouncing Knight''. A typical droll presented a subplot from John Marston's ''The Dutch Courtesan''; the piece runs together all the scenes in which a greedy vintner is gulled and robbed by a deranged gallant. Just unde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Kirkman
Francis Kirkman (1632 – c. 1680) appears in many roles in the English literary world of the second half of the seventeenth century, as a publisher, bookseller, librarian, author and bibliographer. In each he is an enthusiast for popular literature and a popularising businessman, described by one modern editor as "hovering on the borderline of roguery". Early life Francis Kirkman was the eldest son of Francis Kirkman senior (1602–61), who was a member of the Blacksmith's Company and a citizen of the City of London. Little is known of the younger Kirkman's life beyond his publications. He wrote ''The Unlucky Citizen'' (1673), which is taken to be autobiographical, though Kirkman was anything but reliable. However, the part in which he refers to his discovery of literature rings true, and is a good example of his style and enterprise: As will be seen, Kirkman’s enthusiasm for some of these books led him to publish them himself. He claims to have been forbidden to travel or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Cox (actor)
Robert Cox (died December 1655) was a seventeenth-century English actor, best known for creating and performing the "drolls" that were a permitted form of dramatic entertainment during the English Civil War and the Interregnum, when theatres were officially closed and standard plays were not allowed. Gerard Langbaine called Cox an "excellent comedian." His origins and early history are obscure; he was with Beeston's Boys in 1639, but nothing else is known about his early life. "Cox probably was a strolling or country player..." through much of his career. Cox had one known connection with one of the theatre companies of the era: he was one of ten men who tried to re-organize the King's Men in December 1648, an attempt that, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not succeed. Cox won his personal fame in writing and performing drolls — interludes or farces that usually consisted of comic scenes extracted and adapted from old dramas of English Renaissance theatre, by William Shakespea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakespeare In Performance
Thousands of performances of William Shakespeare's plays have been staged since the end of the 16th century. While Shakespeare was alive, many of his greatest plays were performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men and King's Men acting companies at the Globe and Blackfriars Theatres. Among the actors of these original performances were Richard Burbage (who played the title role in the first performances of ''Hamlet'', '' Othello'', '' Richard III'' and ''King Lear''), Richard Cowley, and William Kempe. Shakespeare's plays continued to be staged after his death until the Interregnum (1642–1660), when most public stage performances were banned by the Puritan rulers. After the English Restoration, Shakespeare's plays were performed in playhouses, with elaborate scenery, and staged with music, dancing, thunder, lightning, wave machines, and fireworks. During this time the texts were "reformed" and "improved" for the stage, an undertaking which has seemed shockingly disrespectful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beggar's Bush
''Beggars' Bush'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators that is a focus of dispute among scholars and critics. Authorship The authorship and the date of the play have long been debated by commentators. Critics generally agree that the hands of Fletcher and Philip Massinger are manifest in the text, but they dispute the presence of Francis Beaumont. Cyrus Hoy, in his wide-ranging survey of authorship problems in Fletcher's canon, judged all three dramatists to have contributed to the play, and produced this breakdown among them: :Beaumont – Act II; Act V, scenes 1 and 2b (from Hubert's entrance to end); :Fletcher – Acts III and IV; :Massinger – Act I; Act V, scene 2a (to Hubert's entrance). Yet John H. Dorenkamp, in his 1967 edition of the play, rejects Beaumont's presence and attributes Acts I, II, and V to Massinger. (Dorenkamp agrees with Hoy and earlier critics in assigning Acts III and IV to Fletcher; Fletcher's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1662 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1662. Events *February 15 – The first performance of Sir William Davenant's '' The Law Against Lovers'' – the first Restoration adaptation of Shakespeare, consisting of an amalgam of ''Measure for Measure'' and ''Much Ado About Nothing'' – is given by the Duke's Company at its new theater in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. *September 29 – Samuel Pepys in his diary calls the King's Company production of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' in London "the most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life." *October 18 – John Ogilby, Master of the Revels in Ireland, opens the first Theatre Royal, Dublin, in Smock Alley. *December 26 – The première of Molière's comedy ''The School for Wives (L'École des femmes)'' is held at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré) in Paris. *''unknown dates'' **Two ''autos sacramentales'' by Pedro Calderón de la Barca – ''Las órdenes militares'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Humorous Lieutenant
''The Humorous Lieutenant'', also known as ''The Noble Enemies'', ''Demetrius and Enanthe'', or ''Alexander's Successors'', is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Fletcher. Highly praised by critics, it has been called "Fletcher's best comedy." The drama was initially published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. Date and performance The second Beaumont/Fletcher folio of 1679 provides a cast list for the original King's Men's production, which includes Henry Condell, Joseph Taylor, John Lowin, William Ecclestone, Richard Sharpe, John Underwood, Robert Benfield—and Thomas Pollard, the comic actor who filled the title role. This is the only cast list that includes both Taylor and Condell; Taylor joined the company in the spring of 1619, to replace Richard Burbage after his death in March of that year; and Condell is thought to have retired not long after—which appears to date the play fairly securely to 1619. Manuscript In addition to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict among four Athenian lovers. Another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play which they are to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who manipulate the humans and are engaged in their own domestic intrigue. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular and is widely performed. Characters * Theseus—Duke of Athens * Hippolyta—Queen of the Amazons * Egeus—father of Hermia * Hermia—daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander * Lysander—in love with Hermia * Demetrius—suitor to Hermia * Helena—in love with Demetrius * Philostrate—Master of the Revels * Peter Quince—a carpenter * Nick Bottom—a weaver * Francis Flute—a bellows-mender * Tom Snout—a tinker * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. ''Hamlet'' is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others". There are many works that have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare's play—from ancient Greek tragedies to Elizabethan plays. The editors of the Arden Shakespeare question the idea of "source hunting", pointing out that it presupposes that authors always require ideas from other works for their own, and suggests that no author can have an original idea or be an originator. When ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Marston (poet)
John Marston (baptised 7 October 1576 – 25 June 1634) was an English playwright, poet and satirist during the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods. His career as a writer lasted only a decade. His work is remembered for its energetic and often obscure style, its contributions to the development of a distinctively Jacobean style in poetry, and its idiosyncratic vocabulary. Life Marston was born to John and Maria Marston ''née'' Guarsi, and baptised 7 October 1576, at Wardington, Oxfordshire. His father was an eminent lawyer of the Middle Temple who first argued in London and then became the counsel to Coventry and ultimately its steward. John Marston entered Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1592 and received his BA in 1594. By 1595, he was in London, living in the Middle Temple, where he had been admitted a member three years previously. He had an interest in poetry and play writing, although his father's will of 1599 expresses the hope that he would give up such vaniti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher (1579–1625) was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's. He collaborated on writing plays with Francis Beaumont, and also with Shakespeare on three plays. Though his reputation has declined since, Fletcher remains an important transitional figure between the Elizabethan popular tradition and the popular drama of the Restoration. Biography Early life Fletcher was born in December 1579 (baptised 20 December) in Rye, Sussex, and died of the plague in August 1625 (buried 29 August in St. Saviour's, Southwark). His father Richard Fletcher was an ambitious and successful cleric who was in turn Dean of Peterborough, Bishop of Bristol, Bishop of Worcester and Bishop of London (shortly before his death), as well as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth. As Dean of Pete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Restoration Theatre Drolls 1662
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration *Restoration ecology **Environmental restoration Film and television * ''The Restoration'' (1909 film), a film by D.W. Griffith starring Mary Pickford * ''The Restoration'' (1910 film), an American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company *The Restoration (2020 film), a Peruvian comedy film * ''Restoration'' (1995 film), a film by Michael Hoffman starring Robert Downey Jr * ''Restoration'' (2011 film), an Israeli film by Yossi Madmoni * ''Restoration'' (2016 film), an Australian science fiction thriller by Stuart Willis * ''Restoration'' (TV series), a BBC TV series * "Restoration" (''Arrow''), an episode of ''Arrow'' History * Kenmu Restoration (1333) in Japan * Portuguese Restoration War (1640–1668) * Stuart Restoration (1660) in Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bampfylde Moore Carew
Bampfylde Moore Carew (1690-1758) was an English rogue, vagabond and impostor, who claimed to be King of the Beggars. Life Baptized at Bickleigh, Devon, on 23 September 1690, Bampfylde Moore Carew was the son of Reverend Theodore Carew, rector of Bickleigh, and Alice (born Pearce). The Carews were a well-established Devonshire family. Although they had a reputation for adventurousness, Bampfylde Moore Carew took this to extremes, if his picaresque memoirs are to be believed. Little is known about his life beyond these, in which he is described on the title-page as ''"the Noted Devonshire Stroller and Dogstealer"''. ''The Life and Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew'' Literary history ''The Life and Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew'' was first published in 1745. Although it states that the contents were "noted by himself during his passage to America" and it is likely that facts were supplied by Carew, the author was probably Robert Goadby, a printer in Sherborne, Dorset, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
