''Love Triumphant; Or, Nature Will Prevail'' is a 1694
tragicomedy by the English writer
John Dryden. It was Dryden's final stage play.
It was originally staged by the
United Company
The United Company was a London theatre company formed in 1682 with the merger of the King's Company and the Duke's Company.
Both the Duke's and King's Companies suffered poor attendance during the turmoil of the Popish Plot period, 1678– ...
at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The first cast included
Thomas Betterton as Alphonso,
Edward Kynaston as Veramond,
Joseph Williams as Garcia,
John Verbruggen
John Baptista Verbruggen, d. 1708, was an English actor working in London. Verbruggen is first mentioned as a member of the United Company in a Lord Chamberlain's warrant in 1688. His name does not appear in any cast lists until October 1690. Th ...
as Ramirez,
Thomas Doggett
Thomas Doggett (or Dogget) (20 September 1721) was an Irish actor. The birth date of 1640 seems unlikely. A more probable date of 1670 is given in the Encyclopædia Britannica.
Biography
Doggett was born in Dublin, and made his first stage app ...
as Sancho,
George Powell as Carlos,
Cave Underhill
Cave Underhill (1634–1710?) was an English actor in comedy roles.
Underhill entertained three generations of London theatre-goers. For over 40 years, as a member of the Duke's Company, Underhill played the first Gravedigger in ''Hamlet''. He w ...
as Lopez,
Mary Betterton as Ximena,
Elizabeth Barry as Victoria,
Anne Bracegirdle
Anne Bracegirdle (possibly 167112 September 1748) was an English actress.
Biography
Bracegirdle was born to Justinian and Martha (born Furniss) Bracegirdle in Northamptonshire. She was baptised in Northampton on 15 November 1671, although her to ...
as Celidea,
Susanna Mountfort
Susanna Mountfort (1690-1720) was a British stage actress.
She was the daughter of the actors William Mountfort and his wife Susanna Mountfort. In 1692 her father was killed in a duel and her mother remarried and became known as Susanna Verbrug ...
as Dalinda and
Mary Kent
Mary Kent (before 1692 – after 1718) was an English actress, whose career lasted from 1692 to 1718, and the wife of Drury Lane actor Thomas Kent. Her dates of birth and death are not known. Mary Kent appeared in many playbills from 1692 onwards ...
as Nurse.
[Van Lennep p.431] Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
was provided by
John Eccles and
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer.
Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...
.
The published version of the play was dedicated to
Earl of Salisbury, who shared
Jacobite sympathies with Dryden. It was printed by the publisher
Jacob Tonson
Jacob Tonson, sometimes referred to as Jacob Tonson the Elder (1655–1736), was an eighteenth-century English bookseller and publisher.
Tonson published editions of John Dryden and John Milton, and is best known for having obtained a copyright ...
who secured exclusive rights to Dryden's work late in the writer's career.
References
Bibliography
* Nicoll, Allardyce. ''History of English Drama, 1660-1900: Volume 1, Restoration Drama, 1660-1700''. Cambridge University Press, 1952.
* Van Lennep, W. ''The London Stage, 1660-1800: Volume One, 1660-1700''. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960.
1694 plays
West End plays
Tragedy plays
Plays by John Dryden
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