''The Revenge'' is a 1721 tragedy by the British writer Edward Young, set in 16th-century Spain. Although initially it did not enjoy the same success as his previous play ''

Busiris, King of Egypt ''Busiris, King of Egypt'' is a 1719 tragedy by the British writer Edward Young. It is set in Ancient Egypt during the reign of Busiris. It was considered a success, enjoying a good run and was subsequently published by Jacob Tonson. The work ...

'', it later became a much-revived work during the eighteenth century particularly popular because of the

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

-like role of the

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

character Zanga. John Philip Kemble revived the work briefly in 1798 before Edmund Kean in 1815 did so with great success and it became part of his repertoire.Kahan p.72 The original

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks ...

cast included Barton Booth as Don Alonzo, Robert Wilks as Don Carlos, John Thurmond as Don Alverez, John Mills as Zanga, Mary Porter as Leonora and

Christiana Horton Christiana Horton (c. 1696 – c. 1756) was an English actress. She first appeared in London as Melinda in ''The Recruiting Officer'' in 1714 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Here she remained twenty years, followed by fifteen at the ...

as Isabella. The work was dedicated to Young's patron the Duke of Wharton.

References

Bibliography

* Baines, Paul & Ferarro, Julian & Rogers, Pat. ''The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing, 1660-1789''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. * Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Kahan, Jeffrey. ''Shakespeare Imitations, Parodies and Forgeries, 1710-1820, Volume 1''. Taylor & Francis, 2004. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''History of English Drama, 1660-1900, Volume 2''. Cambridge University Press, 2009. * Worrall, David. ''Harlequin Empire: Race, Ethnicity and the Drama of the Popular Enlightenment''. Routledge, 2015. 1721 plays British plays West End plays Tragedy plays Plays set in Spain Plays set in the 16th century {{play-stub