''Art and Nature'' is a 1738

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 endi ...

by the British writer James Miller. The play received a rough reception from what Miller described a "faction" in the

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...

audience, and its run was not extended beyond a single night. He described its subsequent publication as an attempt to vindicate himself.The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737-1832 p.138 The original Drury Lane cast included Benjamin Griffin as Sir Simon Dupe, William Mills as Truemore,

James Quin James Quin (24 February 1693 – 21 January 1766) was an English actor of Irish descent. Life Quin was born in King Street, Covent Garden, London, an illegitimate son of James Quin, an Irish-born barrister, and his partner (whom he apparently ...

as Outside,

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 Julio, Joe Miller as Jeffrey, Richard Winstone as Constable, Margaret Mills as Flaminia and

Kitty Clive Catherine Clive (née Raftor; 5 November 1711 – 6 December 1785) Catherine ‘Kitty’ Clive (1711–1785, active 1728–1769) was a first songster and star comedienne of British playhouse entertainment. Clive led and created new forms of Engl ...

as Violetta.

References

Bibliography

* Baines, Paul & Ferarro, Julian & Rogers, Pat. ''The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing, 1660-1789''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''History of English Drama, 1660-1900, Volume 2''. Cambridge University Press, 2009. * Swindells, Julia & Taylor, David Francis. ''The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737-1832''. OUP, 2014. 1738 plays West End plays Plays by James Miller Comedy plays {{18thC-play-stub