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Don Sebastian (play)
''Don Sebastian, King Of Portugal'' is a 1689 tragedy by the English writer John Dryden. It is based on the reign of Sebastian of Portugal leading up to his defeat and death at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578. An Elizabethan play '' The Battle of Alcazar'' also portrays the events. It was first staged by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The original cast included Joseph Williams as Don Sebastian, Edward Kynaston as Muley Moluch, Thomas Betterton as Dorax, Samuel Sandford as Benducar, Cave Underhill as Mufti, William Mountfort as Don Antonio, John Bowman as Don Alvarez, Anthony Leigh as Mustapha, Elizabeth Barry as Almeyda, Susanna Mountfort as Morayma and Elinor Leigh as Johayma.Van Lennep p.378 It was published in 1690 and dedicated to the politician the Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Dryden
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (England), Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Romantic era, Romantic writer Sir Walter Scott called him "Glorious John". Early life Dryden was born in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire, where his maternal grandfather was the rector of All Saints Church, Aldwincle, All Saints. He was the eldest of fourteen children born to Erasmus Dryden and wife Mary Pickering, paternal grandson of Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet, Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st BaroneSir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet, t (1553–1632), and wife Frances Wilkes, Puritan landowning gentry who supported the Puritan cause and Parliament. He was a second cousin once removed of Jonath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Sandford
Samuel Sandford (fl. 1661–1699) was an English character actor, known for his roles as villains. Career He joined William D'Avenant's company at Lincoln's Inn Fields about a year after its formation, and was, on 16 December 1661, the original Worm in Abraham Cowley's ''Cutter of Coleman Street''. On 1 March 1662 he was Sampson in ''Romeo and Juliet'', and on 20 October Maligni (the villain) in Thomas Porter's ''The Villain''. Early in January 1663 he was Ernesto in Samuel Tuke's ''Adventures of Five Hours'', and on 28 May Vindex in Robert Stapylton's ''Slighted Maid''. During the same season he was Sylvanus in the ''Stepmother'', also by Stapleton, and in 1664 was Wheadle in George Etherege's ''Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub'', and Provost in ''The Rivals'', D'Avenant's alteration of ''The Two Noble Kinsmen''. After the break of performances on account of the Great Plague, Sandford on 26 March 1668, sang with Harris, as two ballad singers, the epilogue to D'Avenant's '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West End Plays
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance languages (''ouest'' in French, ''oest'' in Catalan, ''ovest'' in Italian, ''vest'' in Romanian, ''oeste'' in Spanish and Portuguese). As in other languages, the word formation stems from the fact that west is the direction of the setting sun in the evening: 'west' derives from the Indo-European root ''*wes'' reduced from ''*wes-pero'' 'evening, night', cognate with Ancient Greek ἕσπερος hesperos 'evening; evening star; western' and Latin vesper 'evening; west'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin occidens 'west' from occidō 'to go down, to set' and Hebrew מַעֲרָב (maarav) 'west' from עֶרֶב (erev) 'evening'. West is sometimes abbreviated as W. Navigation To go west using a compass for navigati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1689 Plays
Events Notable events during this year include: * Coup, war, and legislation in England and its territories. ** The overthrow of Catholic king James of England, Ireland, and Scotland in the Glorious Revolution. ** The latter realms entering the Nine Years War and its expansion to the American colonies in the King William's War. ** The Bill of Rights becomes law in England. * Japanese writer Bashō goes on a voyage, resulting in the classic '' Narrow Road to the Interior''. * The death of Pope Innocent XI and the election of the 241st Pope Alexander VIII. * The Holy Roman Empire wins the Battle of Niš, fought against the Ottoman Empire. * Morocco wins in the Siege of Larache against Spain. * Peter the Great decrees the construction of the Great Siberian Road to China. January–March * January 22 (January 12, 1688 O.S.) – Glorious Revolution in England: The Convention Parliament is convened to determine if King James II of England, the last Roman C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl Of Leicester
Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester (10 January 1619 – 6 March 1698) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1659 and became Earl of Leicester in 1677. He supported the Parliamentarian cause in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, when he was known as Viscount Lisle, a subsidiary title of the Earls of Leicester. Family background Sidney was the son of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, and his wife Dorothy Percy, daughter of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland. His younger brother Algernon Sydney fought for Parliament in the First English Civil War, denounced Oliver Cromwell as a tyrant, and was executed for treason in 1683 for alleged involvement in the Rye House Plot. Another brother, Henry Sydney (1641-1704), was a signatory of the 1688 Invitation to William, inviting him to remove James II of England from the throne. Career In April 1640, he was elected Member of Parliament for Yarmouth, Isle of Wight in the Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elinor Leigh
Elinor Leigh was a British stage actor of the seventeenth century. Born Elinor Dixon, she was billed as Mrs Leigh or Mrs Lee after she married the actor Anthony Leigh in 1671. This has led to some difficulty distinguishing on playbills between her and the actress Mary Slingsby who also acted under her married name of Lee at the time. In addition another actress with the name Elizabeth Leigh was also active during the period. She was a member of the Duke's Company in the 1670s which was then merged into the United Company from 1682, acting mainly at Drury Lane. Her husband died in 1692, and in 1695 she joined those who left to form a new company under Thomas Betterton at the Lincoln's Inn Fields TheatreThe Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama p.lvi Selected roles * Melvissa in '' The Women's Conquest'' by Edward Howard (1670) * Petilla in '' The Six Days' Adventure'' by Edward Howard (1671) * Orinda in '' Cambyses, King Of Persia'' by Elkanah Settle ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susanna Verbruggen
Susanna Verbruggen (née Percival) (–1703), aka Susanna Mountfort, was an English actress working in London. Life She was the daughter of Thomas Percival, a member of the Duke's Company for more than a decade. Her first recorded stage appearance may have been as early as 1681 in D'Urfey's '' Sir Barnaby Whigg''. In 1686 she married the actor William Mountfort, and after Mountfort's infamous murder in 1692, she married the actor John Verbruggen. She was a successful and popular comedian, known especially for her breeches roles. Her greatest success was as the main character Lucia in Thomas Southerne's ''Sir Anthony Love'', where Lucia partakes of the freedom of the roistering Restoration rake by disguising herself as "Sir Anthony". Both men and women in the audience loved her performance in these types of roles. She was one of the leading actresses at the United Company, but when the company split in two in 1695 (see Restoration comedy) she was, however, not offered a sha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Barry
Elizabeth Barry (1658 – 7 November 1713) was an English actress of the Restoration period. Elizabeth Barry's biggest influence on Restoration drama was her presentation of performing as the tragic actress. She worked in large, prestigious London theatre companies throughout her successful career: from 1675 in the Duke's Company, 1682 – 1695 in the monopoly United Company, and from 1695 onwards as a member of the actors' cooperative usually known as Betterton's Company, of which she was one of the original shareholders. Her stage career began 15 years after the first-ever professional actresses had replaced Shakespeare's boy heroines on the London stage. The actor Thomas Betterton said that her acting gave "success to plays that would disgust the most patient reader", and the critic and playwright John Dennis described her as "that incomparable Actress changing like Nature which she represents, from Passion to Passion, from Extream to Extream, with piercing Force ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Leigh
Anthony Leigh (died 1692) was a celebrated English comic actor. Life He was from a Northamptonshire family, and was not closely related to the actor John Leigh (18th-century actor), John Leigh (c.1689–1726?). He joined the Duke of York's company about 1672, and appeared in that year at the recently opened theatre in Dorset Garden, as the original Pacheco in ''The Reformation'' (1673), a comedy ascribed by Gerard Langbaine to one Arrowsmith, a Cambridge M.A. graduate. At Dorset Garden, Leigh played many original parts. After the merger of the duke's company with the king's in 1682, Leigh did not immediately go to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Theatre Royal. He was in 1683, however, at that theatre the original Bartoline in John Crowne's ''City Politics'', and played Bessus in a revival of ''A King and No King''. Here he remained until his death, creating many characters.They included: Beaugard's Father in Otway's ''The Atheist'', Rogero in Thomas Southerne's ''The Disappointmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bowman (actor)
John Bowman (1651–1739) was a British stage actor.''The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama'' p.XXXVIII He began his career in the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre. In 1692, he married Elizabeth Watson, who acted under the name Elizabeth Bowman. He later switched to act at the Drury Lane Theatre. He is also referred to as John Boman. Selected roles * Peter Santloe in '' The Counterfeit Bridegroom'' by Aphra Behn (1677) * Saunter in '' Friendship in Fashion'' by Thomas Otway (1678) * Patroclus in '' The Destruction of Troy'' by John Banks (1678) * Pisander in '' The Loyal General'' by Nahum Tate (1679) * Crotchett '' The Virtuous Wife'' by Thomas D'Urfey (1679) * Patroclus in ''Troilus and Cressida'' by John Dryden (1679) * Mr Shatter in '' The Revenge'' by Aphra Behn (1680) * Duke of Clarence in '' The Misery of Civil War'' by John Crowne (1680) * Atticus in '' Theodosius'' by Nathaniel Lee (1680) * Dreswell in '' The City Heiress'' by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Mountfort
William Mountfort (c. 1664 – 10 December 1692), English actor and dramatic writer, was the son of a Staffordshire gentleman. He met his death at the hand of notorious brawler Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun of Okehampton, who had just taken part in an attempted kidnap of Mountfort's friend, the actress Anne Bracegirdle. Biography By 1678 Mountfort had travelled to London, where his first stage appearance was with the Dorset Garden Theatre company, taking the part of a boy in ''The Counterfeits''. By 1682 he was taking important roles, usually those of the fine gentleman, and he came to be considered a major talent. Mountfort wrote a number of plays, wholly or in part, and many prologues and epilogues. In 1686 he married the actress Susanna Verbruggen, Susanna Percival. Owing to jealousy of Anne Bracegirdle's supposed interest in Mountfort, Captain Richard Hill, an adventurer, who had annoyed her with persistent attentions, accompanied by Charles Mohun, ambushed Mountfort i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cave Underhill
Cave Underhill (1634–1710?) was an English actor in comedy roles. Underhill entertained three generations of London theatre-goers. For over 40 years, as a member of the Duke's Company, Underhill played the first Gravedigger in ''Hamlet''. He was also successful in playing Gregory in ''Romeo and Juliet'', the clown in ''Twelfth Night'', and Trinculo in ''The Tempest''. Early life The son of Nicholas Underhill, a clothworker, he was born in St. Andrew's parish, Holborn, London, on 17 March 1634, and was admitted to Merchant Taylors' School in January 1645. He became first a member of the acting company which was gathered by John Rhodes. around Thomas Betterton. He was then recruited for Sir William D'Avenant and the Duke of York's company at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. In 1663 he was fined in an assault case, with Betterton and James Noke. Stage career The first character to which Underhill's name appears is Sir Morglay Thwack in D'Avenant's comedy ''The Wits'', re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
