''The Belle's Stratagem'' is a romantic
comedy of manners
In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a greatly sophisticated, artificial society. ...
, the most successful work of its playwright,
Hannah Cowley. It received its premiere on 22 February 1780,
filling the 2,000-seat
Drury Lane theatre
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dru ...
.
[Swale, Jessica. "The Belle of London: Hannah Cowley." Program notes, Southwark Playhouse's 2011 production of "The Belle's Stratagem."] The play became a major hit of the season, with
Queen Charlotte
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until her death in 1818. The Acts of Un ...
enjoying it so much that she decreed it be performed for the royal family once a season for several years.
[Winter] Its title comes from
George Farquhar
George Farquhar (1677The explanation for the dual birth year appears in Louis A. Strauss, ed., A Discourse Upon Comedy, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar' (Boston: D.C. Heath & Co., 1914), p. v. Strauss notes t ...
's play ''
The Beaux' Stratagem
''The Beaux' Stratagem'' is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Theatre Royal, now the site of Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, London, on 8 March 1707. In the play, Archer and Aimwell, two young gentlemen who have falle ...
''.
Synopsis
The play's double plotline concerns the romance between Letitia Hardy and Doricourt, as well as the relationship between Sir George Touchwood and his wife, Lady Frances Touchwood. The story comes to a
dénouement
A story structure, narrative structure, or dramatic structure (also known as a dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of narrative structures worldwide, which have be ...
at the
masquerade ball
A masquerade ball (or bal masqué) is a special kind of formal ball which many participants attend in costume wearing masks. (Compare the word "masque"—a formal written and sung court pageant.) Less formal " costume parties" may be a descend ...
of the last act. As described by the press office of the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional Repertory, repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and conte ...
,
"Set in 1780s London, ''The Belle's Stratagem'' is the tale of Letitia Hardy, promised to the charming Doricourt whom she hasn't seen since childhood. Her plan to enchant him with her wit and charm is turned upside-down when she discovers she's fallen madly in love with him, and he seems quite unmoved by her. Desiring to marry a man who adores her equally, she plans a bold deception--to have love as she likes it. Interwoven with Letitia's scheme to trick Doricourt into passion is the story of the newly married Touchwoods. Sir George is wildly jealous of his lovely country-bred wife and his fear of her being corrupted by fashionable life encourages plots by his acquaintance to turn Lady Frances into a fine lady in order to spite Sir George."
The role of the
ingenue heroine, Letitia Hardy, proved to be a successful vehicle in Paris for
Harriet Smithson
Harriet Constance Smithson (18 March 1800 – 3 March 1854), who also went by Henrietta Constance Smithson,, Murphy, Groghegan, 2015 p.196. Harriet Smithson Berlioz, and Miss H.C. Smithson, was an Anglo-Irish Shakespearean actress of the 19th c ...
, who infatuated
Hector Berlioz
Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...
. It was also "a favorite role" for
Ellen Terry
Dame Alice Ellen Terry (27 February 184721 July 1928) was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured ...
,
who was both photographed and engraved in her character's costume.
Characters include...
*Kitty Willis,
*Tony,
*Saville,
*Courtall,
*Doricourt,
*Flutter,
*Villers,
*Mrs. Racket,
*Letitia Hardy,
*Old Hardy,
*Sir George Touchwood,
*Miss Ogle,
*Lady Frances Touchwood
Author
In 1743, Hannah Cowley was born in
Tiverton, Devon
Tiverton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of the Mid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587.
History Early history
The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-for ...
. Her father, Phillip Parkhouse, was an educated bookseller, which helped develop Cowley's literary interest and skill. In 1772, she married Thomas Cowley, a bookseller's son. Most female playwrights of the time period were either unmarried or abandoned playwriting shortly after their marriage. However, Thomas's small earnings as a writer allowed her to try her hand at playwriting. Cowley's interest in playwriting was allegedly sparked by a “dull night out at the theatre”; she decided she could write a better play than the one she had just watched, so shortly after, she wrote ''
The Runaway''. Cowely's first play ''The Runaway ''debuted in February 1776. With the help of David Garrick, ''The Runaway ''became a huge success and earned Cowley over 500 pounds. ''The Runaway ''was Garrick's last production before he retired, and Cowley had “lost the ‘patron’ to whom her ‘heart
asdevoted’”. Cowley’s next manager, Richard Sheridan, would not be as kind. While he delayed and rejected her ideas, Cowley saw her rival, Hannah More, become popular with plays that strongly resembled Cowley’s works. The two quickly began a very public “paper war” After the Hannah More scandal, Cowley returned her focus to playwriting, and in February 1780 ''The Belle’s Stratagem, ''Cowley's most popular play premiered.
Influence
''The Belle's Stratagem'' still remains Hannah Cowley's most popular play to date, and is very "before her time" in writing strong and intelligent female characters. During its stage life thirty editions were published.
In ''The Belle’s Stratagem'', the topic of social injustices in marriage is blatant, the play mostly focusing on how women are supposed to be docile in most social settings. To break up this social narrative, Cowley creates female characters who are sharp and witty, women who know what they want and are determined to get it. Around the time of this play, marriage began to change and the idea of marrying for love instead of duty was more prominent. Cowley uses this play to comment on social constructs of marriage, and how romantic love is becoming accepted and sought after by women looking towards marriage. Cowley sets the audience up to ask big questions about equality in marriage, because if Letitia is smart enough to trick Doricourt, she should also be trusted with decision making within the marriage.
Cowley presents her female characters as virtuous and smart. She uses characters who are high in social status, and she does not often make people the butt of jokes. Her comedic formula is witty and reaches for high ideals, and this can be shown in how she writes her female characters. Letitia is brilliant. She comes up with a plot to prove to her fiancé that she can be as flirtatious as the European women, as well as be virtuous when doing so. She warns Doricourt to “beware of imprudent curiosity” when he tells her to take off her mask so it is obvious Letitia does not pine for his affection, because she knows she does not need to. She also does not sit back and let her fiancé set her aside. She does something about it, which is very admirable for a female character of this time period.
Performance history

The original London cast featured
William Thomas Lewis
William Thomas Lewis (c.1748–1811), known as "Gentleman" Lewis, due to his refined acting style, was an English actor. Raised in Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, he made his name on the Dublin stage before moving to the Theatre Royal, Covent Gard ...
as Doricourt,
John Quick as Hardy,
Charles Lee Lewes
Charles Lee Lewes (1740 – 13 July 1803) was an English actor.
Biography
He was born the son of a hosier in London. After attending a school at Ambleside he returned to London, where he found employment as a postman. In about 1760 he went on th ...
as Flutter,
Richard Wroughton
Richard Wroughton (1748–1822), was an actor, who worked mainly in Covent Garden (now the Royal Opera house) and Drury Lane (now the Theatre Royal), and occasionally in the city of his birth, Bath.
Acting at Covent Garden
He was born in 1748 ...
as Sir George Touchwood,
Francis Aickin
Francis Aickin (died 1805), was an Irish actor, who worked at the Edinburgh Theatre in Scotland, and the between 1765 and 1792 in theatres in the West End of London.
Francis Aickin first appeared in London in 1765 as Dick Amlet in John Vanbr ...
as Saville,
John Whitfield as Villers,
Thomas Robson as Courtall, James Thompson as First Gentleman,
Ralph Wewitzer
Ralph Wewitzer (1748–1825) was an English actor. He won critical acclaim in supporting parts, but was never given leading roles. He had a 44-year acting career, and is thought to have learned over 400 speaking parts.
Early roles at Covent Garde ...
as French Servant,
James Fearon
James D. Fearon (born 1963) is the Theodore and Francis Geballe Professor of Political Science at Stanford University; he is known for his work on the theory of civil wars, international bargaining, war's inefficiency puzzle, audience costs, a ...
as Porter,
Elizabeth Younge
Elizabeth Younge (1740 – 15 March 1797)Her epitaph in Westminster Abbey states that she died at the age of 52 but ''The New Monthly Magazine'' which gave her d.o.b. as 1940 wrote, "How this error in her age arose there is no possibility of e ...
as Letitia Hardy,
Isabella Mattocks
Isabella Mattocks (1746 – June 25, 1826) was a British actress and singer.
Early life
Hallam (later Mattocks) was baptised in Whitechapel in 1746 by Lewis and Sarah Hallam. Her father and her uncle William were also actors. Her grandfather T ...
as Mrs Racket,
Elizabeth Hartley as Lady Frances Touchwood and
Mary Morton as Miss Ogle.
Despite immense popularity in its time, ''The Belle's Stratagem'' was withdrawn by
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, writer and Whig politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1780 to 1812, representing the constituencies of Stafford, Westminster and I ...
when he took over management of Drury Lane from Garrick.
[Swale] Although presented a number of times during the 19th century in both England and the United States,
it was rarely performed by major theaters throughout recent history.
It was revived in an off-Broadway showcase production by Prospect Theater Company in New York City in 2003, in a major production by the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional Repertory, repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and conte ...
in 2005,
and in 2011 received its first British production since 1888.
It was presented at
Southwark Playhouse
Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London with two venues, both located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations.
History
The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They ident ...
, London, by Red Handed Theatre Company, directed by
Jessica Swale
Jessica Swale (born 27 February 1982) is a British playwright, theatre director and screenwriter. Her first play, '' Blue Stockings,'' premiered at Shakespeare's Globe in 2013. It is widely performed by UK amateur companies and is also studied o ...
.
Tony Cownie's adaptation, which re-sets the play in
Enlightenment
Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to:
Age of Enlightenment
* Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
Edinburgh during the development of the city's
New Town
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...
, was staged by the
Lyceum Theatre Company in February 2018.
[''The Belle's Strategy'' theatre programme, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh]
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belle's Stratagem
English plays
1780 plays
Plays set in the 18th century
Comedy plays
West End plays
Plays by Hannah Cowley