''Woman Is a Riddle'' is a 1716

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 actor

Christopher Bullock Sir Christopher Llewellyn Bullock, KCB, CBE (10 November 1891 – 16 May 1972), a prominent member of the Bullock family, was Permanent Under-Secretary at the British Air Ministry from 1931 to 1936. Appointed at the age of 38, he remains one o ...

. Sometimes its title is written as ''A Woman Is a Riddle''. Richard Savage may have assisted with the writing of the play, which draws inspiration from a seventeenth century Spanish work '' The Phantom Lady'' by

Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (, ; ; 17 January 160025 May 1681) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, writer and knight of the Order of Santiago. He is known as one of the most distinguished Baroque w ...

. In 1788 ''Woman Is a Riddle'' was reworked as an

afterpiece An afterpiece is a short, usually humorous one-act playlet or musical work following the main attraction, the full-length play, and concluding the theatrical evening.p24 "The Chambers Dictionary"Edinburgh, Chambers,2003 This short comedy, farce, o ...

called ''The Invisible Mistress'' performed at

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 ...

.Burling p.64 The original

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

cast includes John Leigh as Colonel Manly, Christopher Bullock himself as Sir Amorous Vainwit, Thomas Elrington as Charles Courtwell, William Bullock as Vulture,

James Spiller James Spiller (c.1761–1829) was an English architect and surveyor, a close associate of Sir John Soane. His designs included the Church of St John-at-Hackney, and the Great Synagogue, London. Life Spiller was a pupil of the architect James Wy ...

as Aspin,

John Ogden John Ogden may refer to: *John Ogden (colonist) (1609-1682), an American colonial leader *John Ogden (actor) (died 1732), a British stage actor * John B. Ogden (1812–?), 19th century Arkansas judge *John Ogden (academic), co-founder of Fisk Unive ...

as Butler, Jane Rogers as Lady Outside and

Letitia Cross Letitia Cross (1681/1682 – 4 April 1737) was a British singer and actor. She appeared at the Drury Lane Theatre and was the mistress of Peter the Great when he visited England. Life Cross was born in Surrey and it has been suggested that this w ...

as Miranda.

References

Bibliography

* Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of Early Eighteenth Century Drama: 1700-1750''. CUP Archive, 1927. 1716 plays Plays by Christopher Bullock West End plays Comedy plays {{play-stub