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The Modish Couple
''The Modish Couple'' is a 1732 comedy play by the British writer James Miller, under the pen name Charles Boaden. A virtuous wife reforms her rakish husband.Gollapudi p.77 The original Drury Lane cast included Robert Wilks as Lord Modely, John Mills as Claremont, Colley Cibber as Grinly, John Harper as Sir Lubbardly Block, Theophilus Cibber as Squire Chip, Mary Heron as Lady Modely and Jane Cibber Jane Cibber ( Johnson; 1704/1706 — 1733) was a British stage actress.''The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama'', pg. XIII Life She was born in 1704 or 1706 as Jane Johnson. Her guardian was the writer Richard Sav ... as Clarissa. The epilogue was written by Henry Fielding. References Bibliography * Battestin, Martin C. ''A Henry Fielding Companion''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. * Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Gollapudi, Aparna. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Miller (playwright)
James Miller (1704–1744) was an English playwright, poet, librettist, and minister. Biography Miller was born in Bridport, Dorset on 11 August 1704, the son of a clergyman who possessed two considerable livings in the county. He studied at Wadham College, Oxford, and while there wrote part of his famous comedy, '' The Humours of Oxford'', which contained music by Richard Charke and was first performed on 9 January 1730, to great success. Miller's family was somewhat unsupportive of his theatrical endeavors. They had wanted him to pursue a career in business, but Miller showed a revulsion to such a path. He therefore was persuaded to follow in his father's profession as a minister, taking holy orders soon after he left Wadham. Miller became a lecturer at Trinity College, Conduit Street and a preacher at Roehampton Chapel. The livings for these positions however did not provide for the lifestyle that Miller was accustomed to, so he continued to write for the stage to supp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drury Lane. The building is the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built at the same location, the earliest of which dated back to 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could "reasonably have claimed to be London's leading theatre". For most of that time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres, granted monopoly rights to the production of "legitimate" drama in London (meaning spoken plays, rather than opera, dance, concerts, or plays with music). The first theatre on the site was built at the behest of Thomas Killigrew in the early 1660s, when theatres were allowed to reopen during the English Restoration. Initially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Play
Comedy is a genre of dramatic performance having a light or humorous tone that depicts amusing incidents and in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity. For ancient Greeks and Romans, a comedy was a stage-play with a happy ending. In the Middle Ages, the term expanded to include narrative poems with happy endings and a lighter tone. In this sense Dante used the term in the title of his poem, the ''Divine Comedy'' (Italian: ''Divina Commedia''). The phenomena connected with laughter and that which provokes it have been carefully investigated by psychologists. The predominating characteristics are incongruity or contrast in the object, and shock or emotional seizure on the part of the subject. It has also been held that the feeling of superiority is an essential factor: thus Thomas Hobbes speaks of laughter as a "sudden glory." Modern investigators have paid much attention to the origin both of laughter and of smiling, as well as the development of the "play insti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pen Name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise the author's gender, to distance the author from their other works, to protect the author from retribution for their writings, to merge multiple persons into a single identifiable author, or for any of a number of reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work. The author's real identity may be known only to the publisher or may become common knowledge. Etymology The French-language phrase is occasionally still seen as a synonym for the English term "pen name", which is a "back-translation" and originated in England rather than France. H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, in ''The King's English'' state that the term ''nom de plume'' evolv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rake (stock Character)
In a historical context, a rake (short for rakehell, analogous to "hellraiser") was a man who was habituated to immoral conduct, particularly womanizing. Often, a rake was also prodigal, wasting his (usually inherited) fortune on gambling, wine, women, and song, and incurring lavish debts in the process. Cad is a closely related term. Comparable terms are "libertine" and "debauchee". The Restoration rake was a carefree, witty, sexually irresistible aristocrat whose heyday was during the English Restoration period (1660–1688) at the court of King Charles II. They were typified by the "Merry Gang" of courtiers, who included as prominent members the John Wilmot; George Villiers; and Charles Sackville, who combined riotous living with intellectual pursuits and patronage of the arts. At this time the rake featured as a stock character in Restoration comedy. After the reign of Charles II, and especially after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the cultural perception of the ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Wilks
Robert Wilks (''c.'' 1665 – 27 September 1732) was a British actor and theatrical manager who was one of the leading managers of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in its heyday of the 1710s. He was, with Colley Cibber and Thomas Doggett, one of the "triumvirate" of actor-managers that was denounced by Alexander Pope and caricatured by William Hogarth as leaders of the decline in theatrical standards and degradation of the stage's literary tradition. The family was based for many generations in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. His great-uncle, Judge Wilks, had served Charles I of England during the English Civil War, for whom he raised a troop at his own expense. After Oliver Cromwell won the civil war, Wilks' father moved to Dublin, where Robert Wilks was born. He was a clerk to Robert Southwell until he joined the Williamite army. As soon as he was discharged from the army, he worked in the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin from 1691 to 1693. According to Wilks's version of the story ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Mills (stage Actor)
John Mills (c.1670–1736) was a British stage actor. A long-standing part of the Drury Lane company from 1695 until his death, he appeared in both comedies and tragedies. His wife Margaret Mills was an actress, and his son William Mills also became an actor at Drury Lane. He was a friend of the playwright Richard Steele and Robert Wilks the lead actor and manager at Drury Lane with whom he frequently appeared on stage. He died on 17 December 1736, thirteen days after performing in his final role as the King in '' Henry IV, Part 2''.Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.249 Selected roles * Pedro in '' Agnes de Castro'' by Catherine Trotter (1695) * Castillio in ''Neglected Virtue'' by Charles Hopkins (1696) * Pisano in ''The Unhappy Kindness'' by Thomas Scott (1696) * Lovewell in ''Love and a Bottle'' by George Farquhar (1698) * Colonel Darange in '' The Campaigners'' by Thomas D'Urfey (1698) * Vizard in ''The Constant Couple'' by George Farquhar (1699) * Don Duart in ''Love Makes a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir ''Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber'' (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style. He wrote 25 plays for his own company at Drury Lane, half of which were adapted from various sources, which led Robert Lowe and Alexander Pope, among others, to criticise his "miserable mutilation" of "crucified Molière ndhapless Shakespeare". He regarded himself as first and foremost an actor and had great popular success in comical fop parts, while as a tragic actor he was persistent but much ridiculed. Cibber's brash, extroverted personality did not sit well with his contemporaries, and he was frequently accused of tasteless theatrical productions, shady business methods, and a social and political opportunism that was thought to have gained him the laureateship over far better poets. He rose to ignominious fame when he became t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Harper (actor)
John Harper (died 1742) was an English actor. He was known for comic parts. Life Harper originally performed at Bartholomew Fair and Southwark Fair; a performance for his benefit at William Bullock's booth in Birdcage Alley, consisting of '' The Jew of Venice'', songs and dances, and the drunken man by Harper, was announced in ''The Daily Courant'' of 24 September 1719. On 7 November 1719 at Lincoln's Inn Fields Harper was the original Montmorency in Charles Beckingham's ''Henry IV of France''. He remained at Lincoln's Inn Fields until 1721.Playing among other parts Dr. Caius in the ''Merry Wives of Windsor'', and Ajax in ''Troilus and Cressida''. On 27 October 1721 his name appears as Sir Epicure Mammon in ''The Alchemist'' at Drury Lane. Here he remained for eleven years, taking parts for a low comedian. For some years he was the Falstaff of Drury Lane, and was more popular in the part than his rival James Quin. He also played the king in '' King Henry VIII'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theophilus Cibber
Theophilus Cibber (25 or 26 November 1703 – October 1758) was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber. He began acting at an early age, and followed his father into theatrical management. In 1727, Alexander Pope satirized Theophilus Cibber in his ''Dunciad'' as a youth who "thrusts his person full into your face" (III 132). On the stage, he was famous for playing Pistol in '' Henry IV, Part 2'', and some of the comic roles his father had played when younger, but unsympathetic critics accused him of overemphasis.Barker, p. 166 His private life later led Theophilus into bad reputation and scandal. He died in a shipwreck while bound for Ireland and a season in Dublin. Early life and career Theophilus Cibber was born during the Great Storm of 1703 and began acting in the Drury Lane Theatre at the age of 16 in 1721.Barker, p. 165 As a young man, Cibber was a notorious rake, and associated with young men of a similar mind and reputation, such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Heron (actress)
Mary Heron (died 1736) was a British stage actress. After making her London debut in a revival ''The Man of Mode'' in 1721 she became a regular member of the Drury Lane company until 1734. Although she also did serious parts, she grew to being one of the leading comedy performers of the company. She took part in the Actor Rebellion of 1733 against the management of the theatre.Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.277 Selected roles * Emilia in ''The Man of Mode'' by George Etherege (1721) * Valeria in '' The Rover'' by Aphra Behn (1722) * Farcia in '' Bayes's Opera'' by Gabriel Odingsells (1730) * Lady Modely in '' The Modish Couple'' by James Miller (1732) * Primrose in '' The Mother-in-Law'' by James Miller (1734) * Lucia in '' Junius Brutus'' by William Duncombe (1734) * Mrs Raffler in '' The Universal Gallant'' by Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jane Cibber
Jane Cibber ( Johnson; 1704/1706 — 1733) was a British stage actress.''The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama'', pg. XIII Life She was born in 1704 or 1706 as Jane Johnson. Her guardian was the writer Richard Savage. Originally appearing at Drury Lane Theatre as Jane Johnson, in 1725 she married Theophilus Cibber the son of actor-manager Colley Cibber.Koon p. 109 She had four children with him while continuing to act on the stage in a mixture of comedies and tragedies. When Elizabeth Younger defected to work for the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre company, she took over the roles she had been playing. In 1731, she played the title role in '' Caelia'' by Charles Johnson. She died after childbirth in 1733. Her husband said he would never remarry. He did in 1734. Selected roles * Polyxena in ''Hecuba'' by Richard West (1726) * Jenny in ''The Provoked Husband'' (1728) * Ianthe in ''Love in a Riddle'' (1729) * Cleone in ''Timoleon'' by Benjamin Martyn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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