''Gil Blas'' is a 1751
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 endin ...
by the British writer
Edward Moore.
[Watson p.557] It is based on the novel ''
Gil Blas
''Gil Blas'' (french: L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane ) is a picaresque novel by Alain-René Lesage published between 1715 and 1735. It was highly popular, and was translated several times into English, most notably as The Adventures of G ...
'' by French writer
Alain-René Lesage
Alain-René Lesage (; 6 May 166817 November 1747; older spelling Le Sage) was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel '' The Devil upon Two Sticks'' (1707, ''Le Diable boiteux''), his comedy ''Turcaret'' (170 ...
.
The original Drury Lane cast included
David Garrick as Gil Blas,
Henry Woodward as Don Lewis,
John Palmer John Palmer may refer to:
People
Politicians
* John Palmer (fl. 1377–1394), English politician
* Sir John Palmer, 5th Baronet (1735–1817), British politician
* John Palmer (1785–1840), U.S. congressman from New York
* John Palmer (1842–19 ...
as Don Felix,
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 claim ...
as Don Gabriel,
Richard Yates as Melchior,
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.
Lif ...
as Aurora,
Frances Cross as Beatrice and
Ann Pitt as Bernarda.
References
Bibliography
* Baines, Paul & Ferarro, Julian & Rogers, Pat. ''The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing, 1660-1789''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
* Watson, George. ''The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: Volume 2, 1660-1800''. Cambridge University Press, 1971.
1751 plays
Comedy plays
West End plays
Plays by Edward Moore
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