''First Impressions'' is an 1813
comedy play by the British writer
Horatio Smith
Horace (born Horatio) Smith (31 December 1779 – 12 July 1849) was an English poet and novelist. In 1818, he participated in a sonnet-writing competition with Percy Bysshe Shelley. It was of Smith that Shelley said: "Is it not odd that the on ...
. It was first performed at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 30 October 1813. The original cast included
Joseph Munden
Joseph Shepherd Munden (1758 – 6 February 1832) was an English actor.
He had a long provincial experience as actor and manager. His first London appearance was in 1790 at Covent Garden, where he mostly remained until 1811, becoming a lead ...
as Sir Thomas Trapwell,
Alexander Rae
Alexander Rae was the speaker of 18th Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island (french: Assemblée législative de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard) is the sole chamber of the General Assembly of ...
as Fortescue,
Robert Elliston
Robert William Elliston (7 April 1774 – 7 July 1831) was an English actor and theatre manager.
Life
He was born in London, the son of a watchmaker. He was educated at St Paul's School, but ran away from home and made his first appearance on ...
as Harcourt,
William Lovegrove
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
as Sir Toby Harbottle,
William Oxberry
William Oxberry (1784–1824) was an English actor. He also wrote extensively on the theatre, and was a printer and publisher.
Early life
Oxberry was the son of an auctioneer, born on 18 December 1784 in Moorfields, London, opposite Bedlam. Af ...
as Sapling,
Benjamin Wrench
Benjamin Wrench (1778–1843), was an actor, born in 1778 in London, where his father occupied ‘a lucrative appointment in the Exchequer.’ He seems to have been grandson of Sir Benjamin Wrench, M.D., of Norwich (d. 1747, aged 82) (see Notes ...
as Professor Trifleton,
Julia Glover
Julia Betterton Glover (8 January 1779 – 16 July 1850) was an Irish-born stage actress well known for her comic roles in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Biography
Glover was born Julia Butterton in 1779
or 1781 in Newry, Ireland.
In Lo ...
as Laetitia Freemantle,
Elizabeth Rebecca Edwin
Elizabeth Rebecca Edwin (–1854) was an Anglo-Irish stage actress active in Ireland and England during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Life
Elizabeth Rebecca Edwin was the daughter of actor William Talbot Richards (d. 1813), ...
as Lady Trapwell,
Sarah Sparks as Lady Anemone,
Frances Maria Kelly
Frances Maria Kelly (15 October 1790, Brighton – 6 December 1882), also known as Fanny, was an English actress and singer. She is best known for her acting at the Drury Lane Theatre in London's West End and her opening of the Royalty Theatre a ...
as Louisa and
Susan Boyce
Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian ''c:Lotus flower (hieroglyph), sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "ros ...
as Phoebe. It lasted for fifteen performances on its original run. It's Irish premiere took place at the
Crow Street Theatre
Crow Street Theatre was a theatre in Dublin, Ireland, originally opened in 1758 by the actor Spranger Barry. From 1788 until 1818 it was a patent theatre.
History
Spranger Barry and Henry Woodward
The actor Spranger Barry (1719–1777), born i ...
in
Dublin on 27 January 1814.
Synopsis
Fortescue and Harcourt begin the play as friends, but have a falling out when Fortescue mistakenly believes he has spoken badly of him to Mrs Freemantle, a widow who he is in love with. Other quarrels break out amongst other characters, over misunderstandings, and its only in the fifth and final act that these mistaken "first impressions" are corrected.
[Genest p.401-402]
References
Bibliography
* Genest, John. ''Some Account of the English Stage: From the Restoration in 1660 to 1830, Volume 8''. H.E. Carrington, 1832.
* Greene, John C. ''Theatre in Dublin, 1745-1820: A Calendar of Performances, Volume 6''. Lexington Books, 2011.
* Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of Early Nineteenth Century Drama 1800-1850''. Cambridge University Press, 1930.
1813 plays
West End plays
British plays
Comedy plays
Plays set in London
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