The Spartan Dame
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The Spartan Dame
''The Spartan Dame'' is a 1719 tragedy by the Irish writer Thomas Southerne. It was inspired by a story from Plutarch's ''Life of Aegis'' and was originally written as early 1687, but faced a long period of censorship and revision. The Drury Lane managers chose to revive it at a time of tension with the Stanhope-led government Whigs over licensing issues, and may have selected it because its plot subtly allowed them to demonstrate sympathy with the opposition Whigs led by Robert Walpole following the recent Whig Split. The actor-manager at Drury Lane, Colley Cibber appeared as Crites.McGirr p.193 Other members of the cast included John Mills as Leonidas, Barton Booth as Cleombrotus, Robert Wilks as Eurytion, Anne Oldfield as Celona, John Corey as Agesilius, William Mills as Mandrocles, James Oates James Oates (died 1751) was a British stage actor. Possibly of Irish birth, he was a long-standing member of the Drury Lane company from 1718, and also appeared at the summer ...
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Thomas Southerne
Thomas Southerne (12 February 166026 May 1746) was an Irish dramatist. Biography Thomas Southerne, born on 12 February 1660, in Oxmantown, near Dublin, was an Irish dramatist. He was the son of Francis Southerne (a Dublin brewer) and Margaret Southerne. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, in 1676 for two years. In 1680, he began attending Middle Temple, London, to study law but was drawn away by his interest for theater. By 1682 he was greatly influenced by John Dryden and produced his first play, ''The Loyal Brother'', which was performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane by the King's Company. Southerne bought his prologue and epilogue from Dryden, who made extra income from his ability to turn such pieces. Despite his friendship with the new playwright, Dryden raised his prices for Southerne".(Kaufman) In 1684, Southerne produced his second play,''The Disappointment (play), The Disappointment'', or, ''The Mother in Fashion'' (Kaufman). However, in 1685 Southerne enlisted a ...
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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 ...
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Plays By Thomas Southerne
Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Play Mobile, a Polish internet provider * Xperia Play, an Android phone * Rakuten.co.uk (formerly Play.com), an online retailer * Backlash (engineering), or ''play'', non-reversible part of movement * Petroleum play, oil fields with same geological circumstances * Play symbol, in media control devices Film * ''Play'' (2005 film), Chilean film directed by Alicia Scherson * ''Play'', a 2009 short film directed by David Kaplan * ''Play'' (2011 film), a Swedish film directed by Ruben Östlund * ''Rush'' (2012 film), an Indian film earlier titled ''Play'' and also known as ''Raftaar 24 x 7'' * ''The Play'' (film), a 2013 Bengali film Literature and publications * ''Play'' (play), written by Samuel Beckett * ''Play'' (''The New York Times'' ...
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West End Plays
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance languages (''ouest'' in French, ''oest'' in Catalan, ''ovest'' in Italian, ''oeste'' in Spanish and Portuguese). As in other languages, the word formation stems from the fact that west is the direction of the setting sun in the evening: 'west' derives from the Indo-European root ''*wes'' reduced from ''*wes-pero'' 'evening, night', cognate with Ancient Greek ἕσπερος hesperos 'evening; evening star; western' and Latin vesper 'evening; west'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin occidens 'west' from occidō 'to go down, to set' and Hebrew מַעֲרָב maarav 'west' from עֶרֶב erev 'evening'. Navigation To go west using a compass for navigation (in a place where magnetic north is the same dire ...
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1719 Plays
Events January–March * January 8 – Carolean Death March begins: A catastrophic retreat by a largely-Finnish Swedish- Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydal mountains in a blizzard kills around 3,700 men and cripples a further 600 for life. * January 23 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created, within the Holy Roman Empire. * February 3 (January 23 Old Style) – The Riksdag of the Estates recognizes Ulrika Eleonora's claim to the Swedish throne, after she has agreed to sign a new Swedish constitution. Thus, she is recognized as queen regnant of Sweden. * February 20 – The first Treaty of Stockholm is signed. * February 28 – Farrukhsiyar, the Mughal Emperor of India since 1713, is deposed by the Sayyid brothers, who install Rafi ud-Darajat in his place. In prison, Farrukhsiyar is strangled by assassins on April 19. * March 6 – A serious earthquake (estimated magnitude >7) in El Salvador results in large fractures, lique ...
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Mary Porter (actress)
Mary Porter (died 24 February 1765) was an English actress. Life She was brought to the attention of Betterton by Elizabeth Barry, who had seen her play the Fairy Queen at Bartholomew Fair. In his company she made her first appearance in 1699, in tragedy, in which she was at her best, although she also played a long list of comedy parts. When her friends, Mrs Barry, Mrs Bracegirdle and Mrs Oldfield, had retired from the stage, she was left its undisputed queen. In 1713 she appeared in John Gay's comedy '' The Wife of Bath'' at Drury Lane. In 1724 she featured in his tragedy '' The Captives'' as Astarbe, Queen of Media. Selected roles * Mirabel in ''The Rival Fools'' by Colley Cibber (1709) * Alicia in ''Jane Shore'' by Nicholas Rowe (1714) * Lady Woodvill in '' The Non-Juror'' by Colley Cibber (1717) * Eudocia in ''The Siege of Damascus'' by John Hughes (1720) * Astarbe in '' The Captives'' by John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and ...
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James Oates
James Oates (died 1751) was a British stage actor. Possibly of Irish birth, he was a long-standing member of the Drury Lane company from 1718, and also appeared at the summer fairs in London including Southwark and Bartholomew Fair. He specialised in supporting roles, often in comedies. He was with Drury Lane for twenty one seasons, and later also became a tavern-owner alongside his acting duties. Like several actors of the era he was a freemason.Peter His wife and daughter were both actresses. Selected roles * Jeremy in '' The Play is the Plot'' by John Durant Breval (1718) * Thracion in '' The Spartan Dame'' by Thomas Southerne (1719) * Courtly in '' A Wife to be Lett'' by Eliza Haywood (1723) * Citizen in ''Double Falsehood'' by Lewis Theobald (1727) * File in '' The Village Opera'' by Charles Johnson (writer) (1729) * Mopsus in ''Love in a Riddle'' by Colley Cibber (1729) * Dash in '' The Humours of Oxford'' by James Miller (1730) * Bassoon in '' Bayes's Opera'' by Ga ...
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William Mills (actor)
William Mills (1701-1750) was a British stage actor. The son of veteran stage actor John Mills and his wife Margaret Mills, he was born in London and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 29 June 1701. Under his father's guidance he made his debut as a child actor in 1712. Like his father, he was a long-standing member of the Drury Lane theatre company. He took part in the Actor Rebellion of 1733, and left to work at the Haymarket Theatre for a season before returning to Drury Lane. His last appearance was in ''The Merchant of Venice'' in February 1750 and he died two months later on 18 April, shortly before a benefit was to be staged for him, and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields. He was married to the actress Theodosia Mills until her death in 1733, after which he married another actress Elizabeth Holliday.The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama p.lviii With his first wife he had a daughter also called Theodosia who likewise became an actre ...
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John Corey (actor)
John Corey was an English stage actor and playwright of the eighteenth century. His name is sometime written as John Cory. Born in Barnstaple in North Devon of a Cornish family, he first acted on the London stage in 1701 have originally studied law at the Inns of Chancery. He was therefore unlikely to have been the son of the Restoration actress Katherine Corey. Between 1701 and 1735 he was a mainstay of the Drury Lane, Haymarket and Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre companies, and also appeared at the Goodman's Fields Theatre run by Henry Giffard late in his career.Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.492-93 He also wrote two plays which were performed at Lincoln's Inn Fields early in his career there. Selected roles * Seleuchus in ''Antiochus the Great'' by Jane Wiseman (1701) * Mirvan in ''Tamerlane'' by Nicholas Rowe (1701) * Colonel Many in '' The Beau's Duel'' by Susanna Centlivre (1702) * Careles in '' The Different Widows'' by Mary Pix (1703) * Dorante in '' The Gamester'' ...
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Anne Oldfield
Anne Oldfield (168323 October 1730) was an English actress and one of the highest paid actresses of her time. Early life and discovery She was born in London in 1683. Her father was a soldier, James Oldfield. Her mother was either Anne or Elizabeth Blanchard. Her grandfather owned a tavern and left her father several properties, he however mortgaged these which resulted in Anne and her mother being placed in financial difficulty when he died young. It appears that Oldfield received some education because her biographers state that she read widely in her youth. Oldfield and her mother went to live with her aunt, Mrs Voss, in the Mitre tavern, St James. In 1699, she attracted George Farquhar's attention when he overheard her reciting lines from Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's play ''The Scornful Lady'' (1616) in a back room of her tavern. Soon after, she was hired by Christopher Rich to join the cast of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Career A year later she was cast in he ...
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Barton Booth
Barton Booth (168210 May 1733) was one of the most famous dramatic actors of the first part of the 18th century. Early life Booth was the son of The Hon and Very Revd Dr Robert Booth (priest), Robert Booth, Dean of Bristol, by his first wife and distant cousin Ann Booth, daughter of Sir Robert Booth (judge), Robert Booth, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and was educated at Westminster School, where his success in the Roman comedy ''Andria (comedy), Andria'' gave him a gave him an inclination for the stage. He was intended for the church, and to attend Trinity College, Cambridge; but in 1698 he ran away and obtained employment in a theatrical company in Dublin, where he made his first appearance as the title character in Aphra Behn's ''Oroonoko''. London success After two seasons in Ireland he returned to London, where Thomas Betterton, who had previously failed to help him, probably out of regard for Booth's family, now gave him all the assistance in his power. At the Lincoln's ...
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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 ...
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