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Mermaid Series
The Mermaid Series was a major collection of reprints of texts from English Elizabethan, Jacobean and Restoration drama. It was launched in 1887 by the British publisher Henry Vizetelly and under the general editorship of Havelock Ellis. http://seriesofseries.owu.edu. Retrieved on 28 November 2016. Around 1894 the series was taken over by the London firm of . Many well-known literary figures edited or introduced the texts. Some of the plays published had not been reprinted in recent editions, and most had dropped out of the stage repertoire. The name alludes to the |
Elizabethan Drama
English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. Background The term ''English Renaissance theatre'' encompasses the period between 1562—following a performance of ''Gorboduc'', the first English play using blank verse, at the Inner Temple during the Christmas season of 1561—and the ban on theatrical plays enacted by the English Parliament in 1642. In a strict sense "Elizabethan" only refers to the period of Queen Elizabeth's reign (1558–1603). ''English Renaissance theatre'' may be said to encompass ''Elizabethan theatre'' from 1562 to 1603, '' Jacobean theatre'' from 1603 to 1625, and '' Caroline theatre'' from 1625 to 1642. Along with the economics of the profession, the character of the drama changed towards the end of the period. Under Elizabeth, the drama was a unified e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Faithful Shepherdess
''The Faithful Shepherdess'' is a Jacobean era stage play, the work that inaugurated the playwriting career of John Fletcher. Though the initial production was a failure with its audience, the printed text that followed proved significant, in that it contained Fletcher's influential definition of tragicomedy. Like many of Fletcher's later tragicomedies, ''The Faithful Shepherdess'' deals with the darker side of sexuality and sexual jealousy, albeit within a comic framework. Plot summary The play's eponymous heroine is Clorin, a virgin shepherdess who values chastity and devotion above all. A skilled healer, Clorin has chosen to live in solitude near the grave of her first love. During the course of the play, various couples will find themselves thrown into erotic turmoil, and it is Clorin who heals them and facilitates their reconciliation. In the first storyline, the shepherd Perigot and the shepherdess Amoret are in love, though their love is unconsummated and pure. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Way Of The World
''The Way of the World'' is a play written by the English playwright William Congreve. It premiered in early March 1700 in the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. It is widely regarded as one of the best Restoration comedies and is still occasionally performed. Initially, however, the play struck many audience members as continuing the immorality of the previous decades, and was not well received.Our Dramatic Heritage: The Eighteenth Century, p.14, edited by Philip George Hill Characters The play is based on the two lovers Mirabell and Millamant (originally played by John Verbruggen and Anne Bracegirdle). In order for them to marry and receive Millamant's full dowry, Mirabell must receive the blessing of Millamant's aunt, Lady Wishfort. Unfortunately, Lady Wishfort is a very bitter lady who despises Mirabell and wants her own nephew, Sir Wilfull, to wed Millamant. Meanwhile, Lady Wishfort, a widow, wants to marry again and has her eyes on an uncle of Mirabell's, the we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Love For Love
''Love for Love'' is a Restoration comedy written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered on 30 April 1695 at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. Staged by Thomas Betterton's company the original cast included Betterton as Valentine, William Smith as Scandal, John Bowman as Tattle, Thomas Doggett as Ben, Samuel Sandford as Foresight, William Bowen as Jeremy, John Freeman as Buckram, Anne Bracegirdle as Angelica, Elizabeth Bowman as Mrs Foresight, Elizabeth Barry as Mrs Frail, Elinor Leigh as Nurse and Abigail Lawson as Jenny. Characters The play is a comical farce enlivened by its witty dialogue and its humorous characters, and perhaps more successful in its day than ''The Way of the World'', now considered Congreve's best. The main character is Valentine, then Jeremy, Valentine's resourceful servant; Sir Sampson, with his 'blunt vivacity'; Ben, the rough young sea-dog, who intends to marry whom he chooses; Miss Prue, only too ready to learn the lessons in love g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Double-Dealer
''The Double Dealer'' is a comic play written by English playwright William Congreve, first produced in 1693. Henry Purcell set it to music. Characters and plot This comedy sees character Mellefont, nephew and prospective heir of Lord Touchwood, about to marry Cynthia, daughter of Sir Paul Plyant. Lady Touchwood, a violent and dissolute woman, is in love with Mellefont, but as he rejects her advances, determines to prevent the match and ruin him in Lord Touchwood's esteem. In this design she finds a confederate in Maskwell, the Double Dealer, who has been her lover, pretends to be Mellefont's friend, and aspires to cheat him of Cynthia and get her for himself. To this end he leads Plyant to suspect an intrigue between Mellefont and Lady Plyant, and Touchwood an intrigue between Mellefont and Lady Touchwood; and contrives that Touchwood shall find Mellefont in the latter's chamber. Mellefont is disinherited and Cynthia is to be made over to Maskwell. The latter's plot, howeve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Old Bachelor
file:Bodleian Libraries, Playbill of Covent Garden, Monday, 9th February 1756, announcing The old batchelor &c..jpg, "The Old Bachelor" at Covent Garden in 1756 featuring Samuel Foote, Mr Sparks, Mr Ryan, Mary Elmy, Mrs Elmy... ''The Old Bachelor'' is the first play written by United Kingdom, British playwright William Congreve, produced in 1693 in literature, 1693. Henry Purcell set it to music. Originally staged by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane the cast included Thomas Betterton as Heartwell, George Powell (playwright), George Powell as Bellmour, Joseph Williams (actor), Joseph Williams as Vainlove, William Bowen (actor), William Bowen as Sir Joseph, Joseph Haines as Bluff, Thomas Doggett as Fondlewife, Cave Underhill as Servant, Anne Bracegirdle as Araminta, Susanna Verbruggen, Susanna Mountfort as Belinda, Elizabeth Barry as Laetitia, Elizabeth Bowman as Sylvia, Elinor Leigh as Lucy. Plot The 'Old Bachelor' is Heartwell, 'a surly old bachelor, pretendin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Charles Ewald
Alexander Charles Ewald (1842–1891) was an English civil servant, known as a historical writer. Life He was born at Jerusalem, the son of Christian Ferdinand Ewald (1802–1874), who from a Jewish family became a Christian convert working for the London Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Jews. He was educated abroad and was appointed to a clerkship in the Public Record Office in 1861, rising to be senior clerk by 1890. He died at 31 Victoria Road, Upper Norwood, on 20 June 1891. Works While at the Public Record Office, Ewald was mainly responsible for the completion of the work begun by Thomas Duffus Hardy Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (22 May 1804 – 15 June 1878) was an English archivist and antiquary, who served as Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office from 1861 to 1878. Life Hardy was the third son of Major Thomas Bartholomew Price Hardy, from ... in 1835: a full calendar and précis of the ''Norman Rolls-Henry V''. It was printed in vols. xli. and xlii. of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Congreve (playwright)
William Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright and poet of the Restoration period. He is known for his clever, satirical dialogue and influence on the comedy of manners style of that period. He was also a minor political figure in the British Whig Party. Early life William Congreve was born in Bardsey Grange, on an estate near Ledston, West Riding of Yorkshire. Although Samuel Johnson disputed this, it has since been confirmed by a baptism entry for "William, sonne of Mr. William Congreve, of Bardsey grange, baptised 10 February 1669" .e. 1670 by the modern reckoning of the new year His parents were Colonel William Congreve (1637–1708) and Mary Browning (1636?–1715), who moved to London in 1672, then to the Irish port of Youghal. Congreve was educated at Kilkenny College, where he met Jonathan Swift, and at Trinity College Dublin. He moved to London to study law at the Middle Temple, but preferred literature, drama, and the fashionable l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Conspiracy And Tragedy Of Charles, Duke Of Byron
''The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, Marshall of France'' is a Jacobean tragedy by George Chapman, a two-part play or double play first performed and published in 1608. It tells the story of Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron, executed for treason in 1602. Genre The two plays that comprise the larger work, ''The Conspiracy of Byron'' and ''The Tragedy of Byron'', can also be described as "contemporary history;" they form the second and third installments in a series of dramas that Chapman wrote on French politics and history in his time, from ''Bussy D'Ambois'' through ''The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France''. Date and performance In all likelihood, Chapman composed both parts of ''Byron'' in 1607–8; his primary source on the political events portrayed in the plays, Edward Grimeston's ''A General Inventory of the History of France'', was first published in 1607. The plays were first acted by the Children of the Chapel (by 1608 known as the Children of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Revenge Of Bussy D'Ambois
''The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois'' is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by George Chapman. ''The Revenge'' is a sequel to his earlier '' Bussy D'Ambois,'' and was first published in 1613. Genre and source ''The Revenge of Bussy'' is one in Chapman's series of plays on then-recent French history and politics, blending the genres of tragedy and history. The play was preceded by the original ''Bussy D'Ambois'' and ''The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron'', and followed by ''The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France''. As with the two ''Byron'' plays, Chapman's primary source for ''The Revenge'' was Edward Grimeston's ''A General Inventory of the History of France'' (1607). The historical events depicted in ''The Revenge'' occurred in 1588, during the reign of Henri III. Performance and publication ''The Revenge'' was entered into the Stationers' Register on 17 April 1612. It was published the next year, in a quarto printed by Thomas Snodham for the bookseller John H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bussy D'Ambois
''The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois'' (1603–1607) is a Literature in English#Jacobean literature, Jacobean stage play written by George Chapman. Classified as either a tragedy or "contemporary history," ''Bussy D'Ambois'' is widely considered Chapman's greatest play, and is the earliest in a series of plays that Chapman wrote about the French political scene in his era, including the sequel ''The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois'', the two-part ''The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron'', and ''The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France''. The play is based on the life of the real Louis de Bussy d'Amboise, who was murdered in 1579. Historical Performance and Publication ''Bussy D'Ambois'' was probably written in 1603–4, and was performed soon after by the Children of Paul's. The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on 3 June 1607 in literature, 1607, and published in book size, quarto the same year by the bookseller William Aspley, who issued a second quarto the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Fools
''All Fools'' is an early Jacobean era stage play, a comedy by George Chapman that was first published in 1605. The play has often been considered Chapman's highest achievement in comedy: "not only Chapman's most flawless, perfectly balanced play," but "also his most human and large-minded." "Chapman certainly wrote no comedy in which an ingenious and well-managed plot combined so harmoniously with personages so distinctly conceived and so cleverly and divertingly executed." Date, performance, and publication ''All Fools'' entered the historical record when the Children of the Queen's Revels performed the play at Court before King James I on 1 January 1605. Based on that fact, "the play was probably on the Blackfriars stage in 1604."Chambers, vol. 3, p. 252. The date of the play's composition is complicated by a notation in "Henslowe's Diary," the general term for the records that Philip Henslowe kept of his business at the Rose Theatre from 1591 to 1609. An undated note f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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