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The Roman Father
''The Roman Father'' is a 1750 tragedy by the British writer William Whitehead (poet), William Whitehead. It is set during the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the legendary third King of Rome and his war with the neighbouring city of Alba Longa. The original Drury Lane cast featured David Garrick as Horatius, Spranger Barry as Publius Horatius, John Sowdon as Tullius Hostilius, Thomas King (actor), Thomas King as Valerius, Sarah Ward (theatre manager), Sarah Ward as Valeria and Hannah Pritchard as Horatia. Incidental music was composed by William Boyce (composer), William Boyce. It was met with "extravagant applause" and ran for twelve performances that season. It was revived frequently at both Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatre, Covent Garden.Bartlett & Bruce p.71 References Bibliography * Baines, Paul & Ferarro, Julian & Rogers, Pat. ''The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing, 1660-1789''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. * Bartlett, Ian & Bruce, Robe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Whitehead (poet)
William Whitehead (baptized 12 February 1715 – 14 April 1785) was an English poet and playwright. He became Poet Laureate in December 1757 after Thomas Gray declined the position. Life The son of a baker, Whitehead was born in Cambridge and through the patronage of Henry Bromley, afterwards Baron Montfort, was admitted to Winchester College aged fourteen. He entered Clare College, Cambridge on a Pyke scholarship in 1735, and became a fellow in 1742 (resigning this in 1746), and admitted Master of Arts in 1743. At Cambridge, Whitehead published an epistle ''On the Danger of writing Verse'' and some other poems, notably an heroic epistle, ''Ann Boleyn to Henry the Eighth'' (1743), and a didactic ''Essay on Ridicule'', also (1743). In 1745 Whitehead became the tutor of George Villiers, Viscount Villiers, son of William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey, and took up his residence in London. There he produced two tragedies: ''The Roman Father'' and ''Creusa, Queen of Athens''. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas King (actor)
Thomas King (1730–1805) was an English actor, known also as a theatre manager and dramatist. Early life Born 20 August 1730, in the parish of St George's, Hanover Square, London, where his father was a tradesman, he was educated at a grammar school in Yorkshire, and then at Westminster School. Articled to a London solicitor, he was taken to a dramatic school, and in 1747, with Edward Shuter, he ran away, and joined a travelling company at Tunbridge. He then had a period acting in barns, in the course of which (June 1748) he played in a booth at Windsor, directed by Richard Yates. London actor King was seen by David Garrick, who, on the recommendation of Yates, engaged him for Drury Lane. His first part was the Herald in ''King Lear''. On 19 October 1748, when Philip Massinger's '' New Way to Pay Old Debts'' was given for the first time at Drury Lane, he played Allworth. He was in the same season the original Murza in Samuel Johnson's ''Irene'', and played a part in ''The Hen- ... [...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] |
1750 Plays
Year 175 ( CLXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Piso and Iulianus (or, less frequently, year 928 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 175 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Marcus Aurelius suppresses a revolt of Avidius Cassius, governor of Syria, after the latter proclaims himself emperor. * Avidius Cassius fails in seeking support for his rebellion and is assassinated by Roman officers. They send his head to Aurelius, who persuades the Senate to pardon Cassius's family. * Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina, is named Caesar. * M. Sattonius Iucundus, decurio in Colonia Ulpia Traiana, restores the Thermae of Coriovallum (modern Heerlen) there are sources that state this happen ... [...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] |
William Boyce (composer)
William Boyce (baptised 11 September 1711 – 7 February 1779) was an English composer and organist. Like Beethoven later on, he became deaf but continued to compose. He knew Handel, Arne, Gluck, Bach, Abel, and a very young Mozart all of whom respected his work. Life Boyce was born in London, at Joiners Hall, then in Lower Thames Street, to John Boyce, at the time a joiner and cabinet-maker, and beadle of the Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers, and his wife Elizabeth Cordwell. He was baptised on 11 September 1711 and was admitted by his father as a choirboy at St Paul's Cathedral in 1719. After his voice broke in 1727, he studied music with Maurice Greene.Bruce (2005) His first professional appointment came in 1734 when he was employed as an organist at the Oxford Chapel in central London. He went on to take a number of similar posts before being appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1757 (he had applied for the post on the death of Maurice Greene in 1755) and beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hannah Pritchard
Hannah Pritchard (née Vaughan, 1711–1768) was an English actress who regularly played opposite David Garrick. She performed many significant Shakespearean roles and created on stage many important female roles by contemporary playwrights. Life She was born in 1711, and married in early life a poor actor named Pritchard. As Mrs. Pritchard she acted in 1733, at Fielding and Hippisley's booth, ''Bartholomew Fair'', the part of Loveit in an opera called ''A Cure for Covetousness, or the Cheats of Scapin''. She sang with great effect "Sweet, if you love me, smiling, turn". A duet between her and an actor called Salway was very popular, and she was berhymed by a writer in the ''Daily Post'', who spoke of this as her first essay, and predicted for her "a transportation to a brighter stage". This was soon accomplished, since she appeared at the Haymarket Theatre on 26 Sept. 1733 as Nell in ''The Devil to Pay'' of Coffey. She was one of the company known as the "Comedians of his Majest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Ward (theatre Manager)
Sarah Ward (1726-1771), was a Scottish stage actor and theatre manager. She was the first woman to have been active as a theatre manager in Edinburgh.Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes & Sian Reynolds: The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From the Earliest Times to 2004 She was born to the English actor Thomas Achurch and married actor and playwright Henry Ward. the couple was active in Thomas Este's Taylor Halls Company in Edinburgh in 1745. When the company split in two theater companies, one was led by Sara Ward, and opened at the Canongate Theatre in Edinburgh in 1747. In 1748, she debuted in London, and then toured England and Scotland in various companies, often returning to Edinburgh. Between 1755 and 1758, she was permanently active in Edinburgh Theatre with her lover West Digges, and was a celebrated artist in Scotland: her most popular role was reportedly that of Lady Barnet in John Home's ''Douglas''. In 1758, she left Scotland, and after one season in Dublin, she wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Sowdon
John Sowdon (died 1789) was an Irish stage actor, singer and theater manager in the eighteenth century. His origins are a matter of dispute with one source claiming he was the brother of the owner of Castle Otway while George Anne Bellamy claimed he was the son of a horse milliner.Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.200 He is likely to have made his London stage debut at Covent Garden as Pierce in ''Venice Preserved'' on 4 December 1747. A year later, he played part in Othello and Richard III. He was a member of the Drury Lane company between 1748 and 1752. Sowdon was then employed at the Smock Alley Theatre, Ireland's leading playhouse, in Dublin. An stated that Sowdon accepted this contract with hopes that he would become joint manager of the theater. He briefly co-managed the theatre with Benjamin Victor after Thomas Sheridan left for England, and was primarily known for playing Othello at the time. In 1758 he sold his share in Smock Alley to Spranger Barry and appeared at the Crow ... [...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] |
Spranger Barry
Spranger Barry (23 November 1719 – 10 January 1777) was an Irish actor. Life He was born in Skinner's Row, Dublin, the son of a silversmith, to whose business he was brought up. He took over the business but was not successful. His first appearance on the stage was at the Theatre Royal, Smock Alley, Dublin, on 5 February 1744, and his engagement at once increased its prosperity. His first London appearance was made in 1746 as Othello at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Here his talents were speedily recognized, and in ''Hamlet'' and ''Macbeth'' he alternated with David Garrick, arousing the latter's jealousy by his success as Romeo. This resulted in his leaving Drury Lane for the Covent Garden Theatre in 1750, accompanied by Mrs Cibber, his Juliet. Both houses now at once put on ''Romeo and Juliet'' for a series of rival performances, and Barry's Romeo was preferred by the critics to Garrick's. In 1758 Barry opened the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin, and later a new The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Garrick
David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Samuel Johnson. He appeared in a number of amateur theatricals, and with his appearance in the title role of Shakespeare's '' Richard III'', audiences and managers began to take notice. Impressed by his portrayals of Richard III and a number of other roles, Charles Fleetwood engaged Garrick for a season at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in the West End. He remained with the Drury Lane company for the next five years and purchased a share of the theatre with James Lacy. This purchase inaugurated 29 years of Garrick's management of the Drury Lane, during which time it rose to prominence as one of the leading theatres in Europe. At his death, three years after his retirement from Drury Lane and the stage, he was given a lavish public funeral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
