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The Empress Of Morocco
''The Empress of Morocco'' is a 1673 tragedy by the English writer Elkanah Settle. It was originally staged by the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London. The cast included Henry Harris as Muly Labas, William Smith as Muly Hamet, Thomas Betterton as Grimalhaz, Matthew Medbourne as Hametalhaz, John Crosby as Abdelcador, Mary Betterton Mary Saunderson (1637–1712), later known as Mary Saunderson Betterton after her marriage to Thomas Betterton, was an actress and singer in England during the 1660s and 1690s. She is considered one of the first English actresses. Stage career ... as Laula and Mary Lee as Mariamne.Van Lennep p.206 The published version was dedicated to Henry Howard, Earl of Norwich. References Bibliography * Van Lennep, W. ''The London Stage, 1660-1800: Volume One, 1660-1700''. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960. 1673 plays West End plays Tragedy plays Plays by Elkanah Settle {{17thC-play-stub ...
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Elkanah Settle
Elkanah Settle (1 February 1648 – 12 February 1724) was an English poet and playwright. Biography He was born at Dunstable, and entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1666, but left without taking a degree. His first tragedy, '' Cambyses, King of Persia'', was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1667. The success of this play led the Earl of Rochester to encourage the new writer as a rival to John Dryden. Through his influence, Settle's '' The Empress of Morocco'' (1673) was twice performed at Whitehall, and proved a great success. It is said by John Dennis to have been "the first play that was ever sold in England for two shillings, and the first play that was ever printed with cuts." These illustrations represent scenes in the theatre, and make the book very valuable. The play was printed with a preface to the Earl of Norwich, in which Settle described with scorn the effusive dedications of other dramatic poets. Dryden was obviously aimed at, and he co-operated with John ...
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Dorset Garden Theatre
The Dorset Garden Theatre in London, built in 1671, was in its early years also known as the Duke of York's Theatre, or the Duke's Theatre. In 1685, King Charles II died and his brother, the Duke of York, was crowned as James II. When the Duke became King, the theatre became the Queen's Theatre in 1685, referring to James' second wife, Mary of Modena. The name remained when William III and Mary II came to the throne in 1689. It was the fourth home of the Duke's Company, one of the two patent theatre companies in Restoration London, and after 1682 continued to be used by the company's successor, the United Company. It was demolished in 1709. Background After years of being banned during the Interregnum, theatre performances were again permitted on the Restoration of Charles II with the grant of Letters Patent to two companies to perform "legitimate drama" in London. The Duke's Company was patronised by the Duke of York (later James II); the other patent theatre company, th ...
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London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as ''Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city#National capitals, Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national Government of the United Kingdom, government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the Counties of England, counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London ...
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Tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain hatawakens pleasure", for the audience. While many cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, the term ''tragedy'' often refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western civilization. That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity and historical continuity—"the Greeks and the Elizabethans, in one cultural form; Hellenes and Christians, in a common activity," as Raymond Williams puts it. From its origins in the theatre of ancient Greece 2500 years ago, from which there survives only a fra ...
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Duke's Company
The Duke's Company was a theatre company chartered by King Charles II at the start of the Restoration era, 1660. Sir William Davenant was manager of the company under the patronage of Prince James, Duke of York. During hats period, theatres began to flourish again after they had been closed from the restrictions throughout the English Civil War and the Interregnum. The Duke's Company existed from 1660 to 1682, when it merged with the King's Company to form the United Company. History The Duke's Company was one of the two theatre companies (the other being the King's Company) that were chartered by King Charles II at the start of the English Restoration era, when the London theatres re-opened after their eighteen-year closure (1642–60) during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. The Duke's Company had the patronage of the King's younger brother Prince James, Duke of York and of Albany (later King James II & VII). It was managed by Sir William Davenant. The ...
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Henry Harris (actor)
Henry Harris (c. 1634 – 1704) was an English stage actor and theatre manager. Initially a painter he was a founder member of the new Duke's Company in 1660 following the Restoration which established itself at the old Salisbury Court Theatre before moving to the new Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre shortly afterwards. Due to his background Harris may have been a set designer and painter during his early years with the company. However, by 1661 he was acting, and his first recorded role was in William Davenant's ''The Siege of Rhodes'' that summer. He quickly established himself as the second actor in the troupe after Thomas Betterton. In 1663 he was briefly arrested, likely due to an attempt to change allegiance to the rival King's Company which was illegal at the time. The dispute seemed to be over pay, and he remained with the Duke's Company. In these years he also mentored an emerging actor Joseph Williams who would go on to have a long stage career of his own. In 1664 ...
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William Smith (stage Actor)
William, Willie, Will, Bill, or Billy Smith may refer to: Academics * William Smith (Master of Clare College, Cambridge) (1556–1615), English academic * William Smith (antiquary) (c. 1653–1735), English antiquary and historian of University College, Oxford * William Smith (scholar) (1711–1787), classical scholar and Anglican Dean of Chester * William Smith (Episcopal priest) (1727–1803), First Provost of the University of Pennsylvania * William Pitt Smith (1760–1796), American physician, educator and theological writer * William Smith (lexicographer) (1813–1893), English lexicographer * William Robertson Smith (1846–1894), philologist, physicist, archaeologist, and Biblical critic * William Benjamin Smith (1850–1934), professor of mathematics at Tulane University * William Ramsay Smith (1859–1937), Australian anthropologist * William Hall Smith (1866–?), President of the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1916–1920 * William Cunningham Smith ...
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Thomas Betterton
Thomas Patrick Betterton (August 1635 – 28 April 1710), the leading male actor and theatre manager during Restoration England, son of an under-cook to King Charles I, was born in London. Apprentice and actor Betterton was born in August 1635 in Tothill Street, Westminster.''The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge'', Vol.III, London, Charles Knight, 1847, p.273 He was apprenticed to John Holden, Sir William Davenant's publisher, and possibly later to a bookseller named John Rhodes, who had been wardrobe-keeper at the Blackfriars Theatre. In 1659, Rhodes obtained a license to set up a company of players at the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane; and on the reopening of this theatre in 1660, Betterton made his first appearance on the stage. Betterton's talents at once brought him into prominence, and he was given leading parts. On the opening of the new theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1661, Davenant, the patentee of the Duke's Company, engaged Betterton and all Rhodes' ...
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Matthew Medbourne
Matthew Medbourne (died 1680) was an English stage actor and occasional playwright of the Restoration era. A long-standing member of the Duke's Theatre, Medbourne was a victim of the Popish Plot scare and died in Newgate Prison. Medbourne was a Roman Catholic, but little is known about him before he emerged as a member of the Duke's Company at Lincoln's Inn Fields during the 1661–62 season. His first confirmed role is as Delio in '' The Duchess of Malfi'' in 1662. Around the time of the Great Plague, he wrote a play ''Saint Cecily'', a tragedy which was never acted.In December 1669 he was arrested for disorderly conduct, and was suspended from the Duke's Company for a period but was fully returned by 1671. In 1670 he had written a version of ''Tartuffe'' which was staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He remained with the Duke's at the new Dorset Garden Theatre until 1678. In October 1678 Medbourne was accused of High Treason during the scare of Popish Plot. He was arr ...
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John Crosby (actor)
John Crosby (died 1724) was an English stage actor of the Restoration Period. He first recorded performance is in 1662 when he appeared in '' Ignoramus'' at Whitehall Palace, likely as a child actor. It was further eight years before he was solidly established in the Duke's Company in 1670 beginning with '' The Forc'd Marriage'' by Aphra Behn. He became a regular with the company over the following decade, often playing young lover roles. He retired from the stage in 1679 and later became a justice of the peace for Middlesex. He died on 8 April 1724 and was buried in St Sepulchre.Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.54-55 Selected roles * Cleontius in '' The Forc'd Marriage'' by Aphra Behn (1670) * Andrages in ''The Women's Conquest'' by Edward Howard (1670) * Louis in '' Charles VIII of France'' by John Crowne (1671) * Pheroras in ''Herod and Mariamne'' by Samuel Pordage (1671) * Featlin in ''The Six Days' Adventure'' by Edward Howard (1671) * Otanes in ''Cambyses, King Of Persi ...
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Mary Betterton
Mary Saunderson (1637–1712), later known as Mary Saunderson Betterton after her marriage to Thomas Betterton, was an actress and singer in England during the 1660s and 1690s. She is considered one of the first English actresses. Stage career Her most notable accomplishments are her being the first female actress to portray several of Shakespeare's woman characters on the professional stage. She was the first to portray Juliet in '' Romeo and Juliet'', Lady Macbeth in '' Macbeth'', and other female roles in '' The Tempest'', ''Hamlet'' (as Ophelia), '' Measure for Measure'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Twelfth Night'', ''King Lear''. In Shakespeare's day, female roles were played by teenage boys, as women and young girls were not allowed on the stage. By the 1660s, however, the laws in England had changed, allowing females to act professionally. Mary's connections through her husband, Thomas, who was also a famous actor, allowed her to play several significant roles. Saunde ...
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Mary Slingsby
Mary, Lady Slingsby, born Aldridge (perhaps died 1693), was an English actress. After a marriage lasting 1670 to 1680 to John Lee, an actor, during which she was on the stage as Mrs. Lee, she was widowed. She then married Sir Charles Slingsby, 2nd Baronet, a nephew of Sir Robert Slingsby, and performed as Lady Slingsby. Theatre historians have pointed out the difficulty in identifying her roles in the period when Elinor Leigh, wife of Anthony Leigh, was performing as Mrs. Leigh, because the homophones "Lee" and "Leigh" were not consistently spelled at the time. Stage career In 1671 Mrs Lee appeared at Lincoln's Inn Fields in the character of Daranthe in Edward Howard's tragi-comedy ''Woman's Conquest'', and as Leticia in ''Town-Shifts, or the Suburb-Justice'', attributed to Edward Revet, and licensed on 2 May 1672. Next, at Dorset Garden, where Mrs Lee remained for ten years, she played opposite Æmilia in Joseph Arrowsmith's ''Reformation'' (1672). In ''Henry VI, Part I, wit ...
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