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Richard Wroughton
Richard Wroughton (1748–1822), was an actor, who worked mainly in Covent Garden (now the Royal Opera house) and Drury Lane (now the Theatre Royal), and occasional in the city of his birth, Bath. Acting at Covent Garden He was born in 1748, and came to London, followed by a young milliner who had fallen in love with him, who nursed him through a severe illness, and whom he married. His first appearance was made at Covent Garden on 24 September 1768 as Zaphna in ‘ Mahomet,’ and not apparently in Altamont in ‘The Fair Penitent’ (acted on the 12th), as all his biographers say. He was seen during the season as Tressel in ‘ Richard III,’ Nerestan in ‘Zara,’ Creon in ‘Medea,’ Altamont, for his benefit, on 4 May 1769, and George Barnwell. He was slow in ripening, and his early performances gave little promise. By dint of sheer hard work he developed, however, into a good actor. During the seventeen years in which he remained at Covent Garden he played the princ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Covent Garden Theatre
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. The current building is the third theatre on the site, following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856 to previous buildings. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The main auditorium seats 2,256 people, maki ... [...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] |
William Kenrick (writer)
William Kenrick (c. 1725 – 10 June 1779) was an England, English novelist, playwright, translator and satirist, who spent much of his career Defamation, libelling and Parody, lampooning his fellow writers. Life and career Kenrick was born at Watford, Hertfordshire, son of a Bone (corsetry), stay-maker. He apparently obtained a doctorate at Leiden University (although other sources maintain he went to a Scottish university) and appeared for the first time as a pamphletist in 1751 where he wrote, under the name of "Ontologos", ''The Grand Question debated; or an Essay to prove that the Soul of Man is not, neither can it be Immortal.'' In typical fashion, Kenrick forthwith provided an answer to this question proving the reverse, a tactic he often used in order to publicize his productions. One of his first targets was the vulnerable Christopher Smart whose poem ''Night Piece'' he attacked in the London monthly journal ''The Kapelion; or Poetical Ordinary, consisting of Great Va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bancroft (dramatist)
John Bancroft (died 1696) was an English dramatist, by profession a surgeon. He was buried in St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden. Works He is said to have had a good practice among frequenters of the theatres, and to have been led to write for the stage. One tragedy, the materials for which are drawn from Plutarch, is unquestionedly his. This is ''Sertorius'', which was licensed for performance 10 March 1678–79, and was printed in 1679. It was played in the same year at the Theatre Royal, subsequently known as Drury Lane. '' Henry the Second, King of England, with the Death of Rosamond'', produced in 1692 at the Theatre Royal, is also assigned to Bancroft, though the dedication is signed "Will. Mountfort, 1693" a date subsequent to William Mountfort's murder. ''Henry the Second'' was printed in 1693. It is included in ''Six Plays written by Mr. Mountfort in two volumes'', London: printed for Jacob Tonson, George Strahan and William Mears, 1720. Thomas Coxeter, by whom the ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Two Gentlemen Of Verona
''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1589 and 1593. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as showing his first tentative steps in laying out some of the themes and motifs with which he would later deal in more detail; for example, it is the first of his plays in which a heroine dresses as a boy. The play deals with the themes of friendship and infidelity, the conflict between friendship and love, and the foolish behaviour of people in love. The highlight of the play is considered by some to be Launce, the clownish servant of Proteus, and his dog Crab, to whom "the most scene-stealing non-speaking role in the canon" has been attributed. ''Two Gentlemen'' is often regarded as one of Shakespeare's weakest plays. It has the smallest named cast of any play by Shakespeare. Characters * Valentine – young man living in Verona * Proteus – his closest friend * Silvia – falls ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A New Way To Pay Old Debts
''A New Way to Pay Old Debts'' (c. 1625, printed 1633) is an English Renaissance theatre, English Renaissance drama, the most popular play by Philip Massinger. Its central character, Sir Giles Over-reach, became one of the more popular villains on English and American stages through the 19th century. Performance Massinger probably wrote the play in 1625, though its debut on stage was delayed a year as the theatres were closed due to bubonic plague. In its own era it was staged by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane. It was continuously in the repertory there and at the Red Bull Theatre, under the managements of Christopher Beeston, William Beeston, and Sir William Davenant, down to the closing of the theatres at the start of the English Civil War in 1642. Though Massinger's play shows obvious debts to Thomas Middleton's ''A Trick to Catch the Old One'' (c. 1605), it transcends mere imitation to achieve a powerful dramatic effectiveness – verified by 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] |
Douglas (play)
''Douglas'' is a blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Pa ... tragedy by John Home. It was first performed in 1756 in Edinburgh. The play was a big success in both Scotland and England for decades, attracting many notable actors of the period, such as Edmund Kean, who made his debut in it. Margaret Woffington, Peg Woffington played Lady Randolph, a part which found a later exponent in Sarah Siddons. The opening lines of the second act are probably the best known: Plot Lady Randolph opens the play mourning for her brother. Shortly thereafter, she discloses to her maid that she was married to the son of her father's enemy. She was not able to acknowledge the marriage or the son that she bore. She sent her maid away with her son to the maid's sister's house. They ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beaux' Stratagem
''The Beaux' Stratagem'' is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Theatre Royal, now the site of Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, London, on March 8, 1707. In the play, Archer and Aimwell, two young gentlemen who have fallen on hard times, plan to travel through small towns, entrap young heiresses, steal their money and move on. In the first town, Lichfield, they set their sights on Dorinda. Aimwell falls truly in love, and comedy ensues. Foigard, a priest and chaplain to the French officer, is actually an Irish priest called MacShane (a sombre version of the stage-Irish stereotype). Characters *Archer, a beau, posing as servant to Aimwell *Aimwell, another beau *Count Bellair, a French count *Boniface, a Landlord of an inn *Cherry, his daughter *Lady Bountiful, country woman, specialises in herbal medicine *Dorinda, her daughter *A countrywoman *Squire Sullen, a country block-head, Lady Bountiful's son *Scrub, his servant *Mrs (Kate) Sullen, his unhappy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jealous Wife
''The Jealous Wife'' is a 1761 British play by George Colman the Elder. A comedy, it was first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre on 12 February 1761 and ran for 19 performances in its first season and 70 by the end of the century. It was translated into French and German. Colman was indebted to Henry Fielding's novel '' Tom Jones'' as an inspiration for several characters and incidents and is an early example of a dramatisation of a popular novel. An Advertisement preceding ''The Jealous Wife'' in Colman's Dramatick Works of 1777 reveals that he also developed ideas for the play from The Spectator, The Connoisseur and The Adelphi of Terrance. David Garrick helped Colman to work on the draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ... and cut down its length.Nettleton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play was included in the ''First Folio'', published in 1623. The play is set in Messina and revolves around two romantic pairings that emerge when a group of soldiers arrive in the town. The first, between Claudio and Hero, is nearly altered by the accusations of the villain, Don John. The second romance, between Claudio's friend Benedick and Hero's cousin Beatrice, takes centre stage as the play goes on, with both characters' wit and banter providing much of the humour. Through "noting" (sounding like "nothing", and meaning gossip, rumour, overhearing), Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other, and Claudio is tricked into believing that Hero is not a maiden (virgin). The title's play on words references t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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