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The Fair Circassian
''The Fair Circassian'' is a 1781 tragedy by the British writer Samuel Jackson Pratt. It is an adaptation of the novel '' Almoran and Hamet'' by John Hawkesworth. He wrote the lead role for his friend Sarah Siddons, but due to other commitments it ended up being played by Elizabeth Farren. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 27 November 1781 with a cast that included William Smith as Hamet, Robert Bensley as Omar, John Hayman Packer as Ali, James Wrighten as Principle Iman and Elizabeth Farren as Almeida. The epilogue was written by the Irish Whig politician Richard FitzPatrick, although it has also been attributed to Richard Brinsley Sheridan Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He is known for his plays such as '' The Rivals'', '' The ....Hogan p.479 References Bibliography * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Jackson Pratt
Samuel Jackson Pratt (25 December 1749 – 4 October 1814) was a prolific English poet, dramatist and novelist, writing under the pseudonym of "Courtney Melmoth" as well as under his own name. He authored around 40 publications between 1770 and 1810, some of which are still published today, and is probably best remembered as the author of ''Emma Corbett: or the Miseries of Civil War,'' (1780) and the poem ''Sympathy'' (1788). Although his reputation was tainted by scandal during his lifetime, he is today recognised as an early campaigner for animal welfare and the first English writer to treat the American Revolution as a legitimate subject for literature. Biography Early life Samuel Jackson Pratt was born "to a very respectable family" on 25 December 1749, in St Ives, Huntingdonshire. His father was a brewer,Dictionary of National Biography 1921–1922 Vols 1–20 who twice served as High Sheriff of Huntingdonshire. Pratt was educated at Felsted, in Essex and was later o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hayman Packer
John Hayman Packer (12 March 1730 – 16 September 1806) was an actor for David Garrick's company at Drury Lane. Originally a saddler, he created the character Freeman in James Townley's ''High Life Below Stairs'' (1759). His parts were usually minor and, late in life, "as a rule"Hughes 2008. old men in tragedies and sentimental comedies. Selected roles * Freeman in ''High Life Below Stairs'' by James Townley (1759) * Lucius in '' The Siege of Aquileia'' by John Home (1760) * Don Roderigo in ''Elvira'' by David Mallet (1763) * Sir John Lambert in '' The Hypocrite'' by Isaac Bickerstaffe (1768) * Aunac in '' Zingis'' by Alexander Dow (1768) * Zopiron in ''Zenobia'' by Arthur Murphy (1768) * Greek Herald in ''The Grecian Daughter'' by Arthur Murphy (1772) * Otanes in ''Sethona'' by Alexander Dow (1774) * Ramirez in '' Braganza'' by Robert Jephson (1775) * Rinaldo in '' The Law of Lombardy'' by Robert Jephson (1779) * Ali in ''The Fair Circassian'' by Samuel Jackson Pratt (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tragedy Plays
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain hatawakens pleasure", for the audience. While many cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, the term ''tragedy'' often refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western civilization. That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity and historical continuity—"the Greeks and the Elizabethans, in one cultural form; Hellenes and Christians, in a common activity," as Raymond Williams puts it. From its origins in the theatre of ancient Greece 2500 years ago, from which there survives only a fraction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1781 Plays
Events January–March * January – William Pitt the Younger, later Prime Minister of Great Britain, enters Parliament, aged 21. * January 1 – Industrial Revolution: The Iron Bridge opens across the River Severn in England. * January 2 – Virginia passes a law ceding its western land claims, paving the way for Maryland to ratify the Articles of Confederation. * January 5 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia is burned by British naval forces, led by Benedict Arnold. * January 6 – Battle of Jersey: British troops prevent the French from occupying Jersey in the Channel Islands. * January 17 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cowpens: The American Continental Army, under Daniel Morgan, decisively defeats British forces in South Carolina. * February 2 – The Articles of Confederation are ratified by Maryland, the 13th and final state to do so. * February 3 – Fourth Anglo-Dutch War – Capture of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He is known for his plays such as ''The Rivals'', ''The School for Scandal'', ''The Duenna'' and ''A Trip to Scarborough''. He was also a Whig MP for 32 years in the British House of Commons for Stafford (1780–1806), Westminster (1806–1807), and Ilchester (1807–1812). He is buried at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. His plays remain a central part of the canon and are regularly performed worldwide. Early life Sheridan was born in 1751 in Dublin, Ireland, where his family had a house on then fashionable Dorset Street. His mother, Frances Sheridan, was a playwright and novelist. She had two plays produced in London in the early 1760s, though she is best known for her novel ''The Memoirs of Miss Sidney Biddulph'' (1761). His father, Thomas Sheridan, was for a while an actor-manager at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard FitzPatrick
General Richard FitzPatrick (24 January 174825 April 1813), styled The Honourable from birth, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, wit, poet, and Whig politician. He sat in the British House of Commons for 39 years from 1774 to 1813, and was a "sworn brother" of the statesman Charles James Fox. He served in the Philadelphia campaign during the American Revolutionary War. Family and childhood FitzPatrick was a younger son of John FitzPatrick, 1st Earl of Upper Ossory, and Lady Evelyn, daughter of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower. He had an elder brother, John FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory, and two sisters: Mary, who later married Charles James Fox's brother Stephen Fox, 2nd Baron Holland, and Louisa, who became the second wife of Fox's Whig adversary William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne. After the death of her husband in 1758, Fitzpatrick's mother brought her children to England and soon remarried Richard Vernon, an original member of the Jockey Club. Lady Evelyn bore her s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whig (British Political Party)
The Whigs were a political faction and then a political party in the Parliaments of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Between the 1680s and the 1850s, the Whigs contested power with their rivals, the Tories. The Whigs merged into the new Liberal Party with the Peelites and Radicals in the 1850s, and other Whigs left the Liberal Party in 1886 to form the Liberal Unionist Party, which merged into the Liberals' rival, the modern day Conservative Party, in 1912. The Whigs began as a political faction that opposed absolute monarchy and Catholic Emancipation, supporting constitutional monarchism with a parliamentary system. They played a central role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and were the standing enemies of the Roman Catholic Stuart kings and pretenders. The period known as the Whig Supremacy (1714–1760) was enabled by the Hanoverian succession of George I in 1714 and the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1715 by Tory rebels. The Whigs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epilogue
An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the work. It is presented from the perspective of within the story. When the author steps in and speaks directly to the reader, that is more properly considered an afterword. The opposite is a prologue—a piece of writing at the ''beginning'' of a work of literature or drama, usually used to open the story and capture interest. Some genres, for example television programs and video games, call the epilogue an "outro" patterned on the use of "intro" for "introduction". Epilogues are usually set in the future, after the main story is completed. Within some genres it can be used to hint at the next installment in a series of work. It is also used to satisfy the reader's curiosity and to cover any loose ends of the story. History of the term T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Wrighten
James Wrighten (b. 1745 - d. 1793) was an English actor. He trained to work as a copperplate printer, but left that occupation for the stage. He moved from Birmingham to London and made his debut at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 21 February 1779. He afterwards acted in numerous roles at the theatre until 1793, beginning work as a prompter in 1786. Wrighten married prominent actress and singer Mary Ann Wrighten née Matthews in Birmingham in about 1769 and the couple moved to London to work in theatre. They had two daughters, Mary and Charlotte, maintaining a stormy relationship. They divorced in a public scandal that was widely covered in the press, after which Mary Ann Wrighten took her daughters and moved to the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ... to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Bensley
Robert Bensley (c. 1740 – 1817) was an 18th-century English actor, of whom Charles Lamb in the ''Essays of Elia'' speaks with special praise. Life His early life is obscure, but his family was not poor: an uncle, Sir William Bensley, was among the directors of the British East India Company. Robert may have attended Westminster School. He is said to have served in America as a lieutenant of marines, attaining his commission through the influence of another relative; in this capacity, he may have participated in theatrical entertainments for soldiers; one early biography mentions a role on Thomas Otway's '' The Orphan''. He appears to have acted with troupes of strolling players, including those of Roger Kemble and another in Staffordshire. In 1768 Johan Zoffany created a painting of Charles Macklin in the role of Shylock. Macklin's daughter Maria Macklin was included as Portia and Bensley as Bassiano in the painting and Jane Lessingham is at the foot of the dias. The pai ... [...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] |
William 'Gentleman' Smith
William is a male given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will (given name), Will, Wills (given name), Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill (given name), Bill, and Billy (name), Billy. A common Irish people, Irish form is Liam. Scottish people, Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie or the play Douglas (play)#Theme and response, ''Douglas''). Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma (given name), Wilma and Wilhelmina (given name), Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the given name ''Wilhelm'' (cf. Proto-Germanic ᚹᛁᛚᛃᚨᚺᛖᛚ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
