''Love in a Forest'' is a 1723
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
Charles Johnson. It is a substantial reworking of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...
'' cutting out characters and passages, while borrowing from other Shakespeare plays amongst other things.
[Lynch p.127]
The original Drury Lane cast included
Charles Williams as Duke Frederick,
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, Dean of Bristol, by his first wife and distant cousin Ann ...
as Alberto,
Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir ''Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber'' (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling ...
as Jacques,
John Corey as Amiens,
John Thurmond
John Thurmond (died 1727) was a British stage actor. To distinguish him from his son, also an actor named John, he is sometimes called John Thurmond the Elder.
His earliest known stage performance was in 1695, when he played in '' Cyrus the Great ...
as Oliver,
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 th ...
as Orlando,
John Roberts
John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including ''Nat ...
as Roberto,
John Mills
Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portra ...
as Adam,
Theophilus Cibber
Theophilus Cibber (25 or 26 November 1703 – October 1758) was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber.
He began acting at an early age, and followed his father into theatrical management. In 1727, Alex ...
as Le Beau,
William Mills as Charles,
Hester Santlow
Hester Santlow (married name Hester Booth; c. 1690 – 1773) was a noted British dancer and actress, who has been called "England's first ballerina". She was influential in many spheres of theatrical life.
Life
Hester Santlow was born circa 16 ...
as Rosalind,
Sarah Thurmond
Sarah Thurmond or Sarah Lewis ( – 1762) was a British actress.
Life
Sarah Lewis was born in Epsom although the date is unknown. Her first appearances were at Drury Lane and Lincoln's Inn Fields at the end of 1711 in Greenwich where she met J ...
as Celia,
William Penkethman as Pyramus,
Henry Norris as Wall and
Joe Miller as Thisbe.
References
Bibliography
* Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992.
* Lynch, Stephen J. ''As You Like it: A Guide to the Play''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.
* Nicoll, Allardyce. ''History of English Drama, 1660-1900, Volume 2''. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
1723 plays
West End plays
Plays by Charles Johnson
Comedy plays
Plays and musicals based on As You Like It
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