|
The School For Widows
''The School for Widows'' is a 1789 comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 8 May 1789. The original Covent Garden cast included William Thomas Lewis as Jack Marmoset, Thomas Ryder as Mr Wordly, John Quick as Sir Wilful Wayward, Alexander Pope as Frederick, Isabella Mattocks as Mrs Wordly, Sarah Wewitzer as Mrs Gayless and Frances Abington Frances "Fanny" Abington (1737 – 4 March 1815) was an English actress who was also known for her sense of fashion. Writer and politician Horace Walpole described her as one of the finest actors of their time, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan was s ... as Lady Charlotte Richmore.Hogan p.1153 It was never published. References Bibliography * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of English Drama 1660–1900: Volume III''. Cambridge University Press, 2009. * Hogan, C.B (ed.) ''The London Stage, 1660–1800: Volume V''. Southern Illinois University Press, 1968. 1789 plays Comed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Cumberland (dramatist)
Richard Cumberland (19 February 1731/2 – 7 May 1811) was an English dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play '' The West Indian'' was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived critical journal called ''The London Review'' (1809). His plays are often remembered for their sympathetic depiction of characters generally considered to be on the margins of society. Early life and education Richard Cumberland was born in the master's lodge of Trinity College, Cambridge on 19 February 1731/2. His father was a clergyman, Doctor Denison Cumberland, who became successively Bishop of Clonfert and Bishop of Kilmore, and through him his great-grandfather was Richard Cumberland, the philosopher and bishop of Peterborough. His mother was Johanna Bentley, youngest daughter of Joanna Bernard and the classical scholar Richard Bentley, l ... [...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] |
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...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] |
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden
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, makin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Thomas Lewis
William Thomas Lewis (1748?–1811), known as "Gentleman" Lewis, due to his refined acting style, was an English actor. He was said to be "the most complete fop on the stage". In later life he went into theatrical management. Early days in Ireland The son of William Lewis, a linendraper on Tower Hill, London, later an actor and manager in Ireland, he was born at Ormskirk, Lancashire, in or about 1748 (there is disagreement about his birth date); he had a Welsh clerical background, and was rumoured to be a great-grandson of Erasmus Lewis. He was brought up in Armagh. A juvenile actor from very young, Lewis first appeared as "Mr. Lewis" in the playbill when he acted Colonel Briton in Susannah Centlivre's comedy ''The Wonder''. Under Willian Dawson, Lewis appeared (1770–71) at the Capel Street Theatre in Dublin. He rapidly became popular in the city. On 19 February 1771 he was Belcour in ''The West Indian'' by Richard Cumberland, a part he made his own. On 4 May 1772, at the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Ryder (actor)
Thomas Ryder (1735–1790) was a British actor and theatre manager, associated with the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. As a player, he was considered at his best in low comedy. Early life The son of the actor-manager Preswick Ryder (d. 1771) and his actress wife Sarah, he was perhaps born in Nottinghamshire. He had early stage experience in Scotland, at least. The Dublin stage Ryder appeared on 7 December 1757 at Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, then under the management of Thomas Sheridan, playing Captain Plume in ''The Recruiting Officer'' to the Captain Brazen of Samuel Foote. He came to immediate favour. After the failure of Sheridan, Ryder remained under his successor, Brown, supporting Frances Abington as Sir Harry in ''High Life Below Stairs'' (James Townley) and in other parts. Under Henry Mossop, he played at the same house For five years Ryder then ran a company, working his way around Ireland. He reopened at Smock Alley Theatre as Sir John Restless in ''All in the Wrong' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Quick (actor)
John Quick (1748 – 4 April 1831) was a British comic actor. Life The son of a brewer, he was born in Whitechapel, London. At age 13 he left his home and joined Oliver Carr's theatrical company at Fulham, where he played Altamont in the ''Fair Penitent'', receiving three shillings as a share in the profits. For some years, in Kent and Surrey, he played Romeo, George Barnewell, Hamlet, Jaffier, Tancred, and other tragic characters, and in 1766 was at the Haymarket Theatre under the management of Samuel Foote, with Edward Shuter, John Bannister, and John Palmer. His performance, for Shuter's benefit, of Mordecai in ''Love à la Mode'' commended him to Covent Garden, where, on 7 November 1767, he was the original Postboy in Colman's ''Oxonian in Town''; on 14 December the First Ferret in the ''Royal Merchant'', an operatic version of the ''Beggar's Bush''; and on 29 January 1768 the original Postboy in Oliver Goldsmith's ''Good-natured Man''. At Covent Garden, with occasional vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Pope (actor)
Alexander Pope (176322 March 1835) was an Irish actor and painter. Life He was born in Cork, Ireland. He was educated to follow his father's profession of miniature painting. He continued to paint miniatures and exhibit them at the Royal Academy as late as 1821; but at an early date he took the stage, first appearing in London as Oroonoko in 1785 at Covent Garden. He remained at this theatre almost continuously for nearly twenty years, then at the Haymarket until his retirement, playing leading parts, chiefly tragic. He was well known as Othello and Henry VIII. He played for the first time in Edinburgh on 15 June 1786, as Othello. Family He was married three times. His first wife, Elizabeth (1744–1797), a favourite English actress of great versatility, was billed before her marriage as Miss Younge. His second wife, Maria Ann Campion Maria Ann Campion (1777 - 18 June 1803) was a popular Irish actress and the second wife of Alexander Pope the actor. She was born in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isabella Mattocks
Isabella Mattocks (1746 – June 25, 1826) was a British actress and singer. Early life Hallam (later Mattocks) was baptised in Whitechapel in 1746 by Lewis and Sarah Hallam Douglass. Her father and her uncle William were also actors.Jared Brown, ‘Hallam, Lewis (1714?–1756?)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200accessed 7 Feb 2015/ref> Her grandfather Thomas Hallam had been part of the Drury Lane company when he was killed in a dispute with fellow actor Charles Macklin during a performance. When her father and William decided to try acting in America they took three of Isabella's siblings, but she was left in the care of her aunt, Ann, and her husband John Barrington in England. In 1762 she made her debut in the adult role of Juliet. For most of her childhood except for a few years at school she played small parts in the productions of the Covent Garden company of actors. When she was sixteen she joined the company and in 1765 she marrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Wewitzer
Sarah Wewitzer (1756–1820) was a British actress and singer who styled herself Lady Tyrawley in later life in Ireland. Life Wewitzer was baptised in 1756 by Peter and Ann Wewitzer. She had Norwegian heritage. She first appeared in a theatre in 1772 where she specialised in the works of Isaac Bickerstaff. Her siblings including her elder sister and her brother Ralph Wewitzer were also entertainers. In 1774 she may have sung at Marylebone Gardens and she may have made similar performances before 1772. Wewitzer appeared at the Smock Alley Theatre where she made her home in Dublin. In 1775, her reputation was compared favourably with the notorious Ann Catley. Her reputation for purity ended when she set up home with James Cuffe who was the member of parliament for Mayo and had an estranged wife, Mary. They had two sons including James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frances Abington
Frances "Fanny" Abington (1737 – 4 March 1815) was an English actress who was also known for her sense of fashion. Writer and politician Horace Walpole described her as one of the finest actors of their time, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan was said to have written the part of Lady Teazle in ''The School for Scandal'' for her to perform. Early life She was born Frances Barton or Frances "Fanny" Barton, as the daughter of a private soldier. She began her career as a flower girl and a street singer. It was also rumoured that she recited Shakespeare in taverns at the age of 12, along with being a prostitute for a short period to help her family with financial problems. Later, she became a servant to a French milliner. During that time, she learnt about costume and learnt French. Her early nickname, Nosegay Fan, came from her time as a flower girl. Career Her first appearance on stage was at Haymarket in 1755 as Miranda in Mrs Centlivre's play, ''Busybody''. She rose to become a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
