|
Duplicity (play)
''Duplicity'' is a 1781 comedy play by the British writer Thomas Holcroft. The original Covent Garden cast included John Henderson as Mr Osborne, William Thomas Lewis as Sir Harry Portland, Richard Wilson as Sir Hornet Armstrong, Charles Lee Lewes as Squire Turnbull, John Edwin as Timid, Ralph Wewitzer as Mr Vandervelt, William Stevens as Scrip, Sarah Maria Wilson as Miss Turnbull, Elizabeth Inchbald as Melissa, Ann Pitt as Mrs Trip and 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 ev ... as Clara.Hogan p.466 References Bibliography * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of English Drama 1660–1900: Volume III''. Cambridge University Press, 2009. * Hogan, C.B (ed.) ''The London Stage, 1660–1800: Volume V''. Southern Illinois University Press, 1968. 1781 plays ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Holcroft
Thomas Holcroft (10 December 174523 March 1809) was an English dramatist, miscellanist, poet and translator. He was sympathetic to the early ideas of the French Revolution and helped Thomas Paine to publish the first part of ''The Rights of Man''. Early life Holcroft was born in Orange Court, Leicester Fields, London. His father had a shoemaker's shop and kept riding horses for hire, but he fell into difficulties and was reduced to hawking as a pedlar. The son accompanied his parents on their travels. He obtained work as a stable boy at Newmarket, at the stables of Hon. Richard Vernon, where he spent his evenings chiefly on miscellaneous reading and the study of music. He gradually obtained a knowledge of French, German and Italian. When Holcroft's job at the stables came to an end, he returned to assist his father, who had resumed his trade of shoemaker in London. Around 1765, he became a teacher in a small school in Liverpool. However, he failed in an attempt to set up a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Stevens (actor)
William Stevens may refer to: * William Stevens (writer) (1732–1807), English biographer * William A. Stevens (1879–1941), New Jersey Attorney General * William C. Stevens (Michigan politician) (1837-1921), Michigan Auditor General * William C. Stevens (New York politician) (1848–1897), American merchant and politician from New York * William Bacon Stevens (1815–1887), Episcopal bishop of Pennsylvania * William Burnham Stevens (1843–1931), American jurist and politician from Massachusetts * William George Stevens (1893–1975), British born general who served with the New Zealand Military Forces during WWII * William H. Stevens (1818–1880), American architect * William L. Stevens (1932–1997), Episcopal bishop of Fond du Lac * William N. Stevens (1850–1889), first African American to serve in both house of the Virginia General Assembly * William Oliver Stevens (1878–1955), American writer and professor for the United States Naval Academy * W. Richard Stevens (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Plays
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term originated in ancient Greece: in Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing ''agon'' or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1781 Plays
Events January–March * January – William Pitt the Younger, later Prime Minister of Great Britain, enters Parliament, aged 21. * January 1 – Industrial Revolution: The Iron Bridge opens across the River Severn in England. * January 2 – Virginia passes a law ceding its western land claims, paving the way for Maryland to ratify the Articles of Confederation. * January 5 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia is burned by British naval forces, led by Benedict Arnold. * January 6 – Battle of Jersey: British troops prevent the French from occupying Jersey in the Channel Islands. * January 17 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cowpens: The American Continental Army, under Daniel Morgan, decisively defeats British forces in South Carolina. * February 2 – The Articles of Confederation are ratified by Maryland, the 13th and final state to do so. * February 3 – Fourth Anglo-Dutch War – Capture o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ever guessing, as her real age was so well known." was an English actress who specialized in Shakespearean roles. Biography Younge was born near Old Gravel Lane, Southwark. An Elizabeth Young, daughter of Samuel and Mary Young, was baptized at St Olave's, Southwark, on 14 January 1744, but it is not known if this was the same person. She received her early education at a day-school with other working-class children. After she left school, she became apprenticed to a milliner. Her parents died while she was still young and she had to support herself. In her leisure time, she did a great deal of reading and devoted herself to studying the best poets, especially the dramatic ones. She made friends with a young woman who was the daughter of an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Pitt
Ann Pitt (1718 – 18 December 1799) was a British actress. Life Pitt was born in 1718 to Elizabeth. Her father, John, was a warden for London Bridge and he sold fish. Her brother, Cecil, became rich dealing in dry goods whereas Ann's career led her to acting comic parts. She is first advertised as being in the cast in 1745 for a Drury Lane production. In 1752 she joined the Covent Garden Theatre company. left, Mrs Pitt as Lady Wishfort Harriet Pitt was born to Ann Pitt in about 1748 whilst her mother was acting in Richmond in Surrey. The father's name is recorded as "Henry" but this is thought to be a convenient fiction. A second child Mary Ann (Pitt) Ritchards was born in 1759 and whilst still illegitimate the father was known as the scene painter John Inigo Richards. Mary Ann's father later married someone else but Richards acknowledged her as his daughter in his will and left her a snuff box decorated with Ann Pitt's portrait. In 1776 an engraving was published of Mrs Pitt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Inchbald
Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson, 15 October 1753 – 1 August 1821) was an English novelist, actress, dramatist, and translator. Her two novels, '' A Simple Story'' and ''Nature and Art'', have received particular critical attention. Life Born on 15 October 1753 at Stanningfield, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, Elizabeth was the eighth of the nine children of John Simpson (died 1761), a farmer, and his wife Mary, ''née'' Rushbrook. The family, like several others in the neighbourhood, was Roman Catholic. Her brother was sent to school, but Elizabeth and her sisters were educated at home. Inchbald had a speech impediment. Focused on acting from a young age, she worked hard to manage her stammer, but her family discouraged an attempt in early 1770 to gain a position at the Norwich Theatre. That same year her brother George became an actor. Still determined, Inchbald went to London to become an actress in April 1772 at the age of 18. It was a difficult beginning: some observer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Maria Wilson
Sarah Maria Wilson (died 1786) was an English actress. Early life Her maiden name was Adcock. She acted in York, where, as Mrs. Weston, in the summer of 1773 she played Lucy Lockit in the ''Beggar's Opera'', Miss Notable in the 'Lady's Last Stake,' and other comic parts. The London stage After appearing in Leeds, where she became a favourite, and in Glasgow in 1774, she came to London. There she came to know Richard Wilson, and as Mrs. Wilson she played at the Haymarket Theatre on 19 May 1775, Betsy Blossom in ''The Cozeners'', and Lucy in ''The Virgin Unmasked''. She was seen in her first Haymarket season as Lucy in ''The Mirror'', Nell in the 'Devil to Pay,' Lydia in the 'Bankrupt,' Sophy in the 'Dutchman,' and Juletta (an original part) in 'Metamorphoses' (26 August 1775). On 30 April 1776 she was at Covent Garden, for Wilson's benefit, Hoyden in the 'Man of Quality.' In the summer of 1776 and that of 1777 she was in Liverpool. At Covent Garden she had played meanwhile Polly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Garden He was born on 17 December 1748 in Salisbury Street, Strand, London, to Peter and Ann Wewitzer; his parents were involved in the theatre, and his father was Swiss or Norwegian. He is identified by Gerald Reitlinger and Kalman Burnim as Jewish by background. Wewitzer was once apprenticed to a jeweller. He made his first appearance at Covent Garden Theatre in May 1773 as Ralph in ''The Maid in the Mill'', it is said for the benefit of his sister Sarah Wewitzer. On 21 November 1775 he was the original Lopez, a Spanish manservant in ''The Duenna'' by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. For 14 years he remained at Covent Garden. It was said that in the early days Wewitzer, in debt, went to Dublin, where he acted under Thomas Ryder. Among his parts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Covent Garden Theatre
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house An opera house is a theater (structure), theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a Stage (theatre), stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venu ... and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. The current building is the third theatre on the site, following disas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Edwin (1749–1790)
John Edwin (10 August 1749 – 31 October 1790), English actor, was born in London, the son of a watchmaker. Life As a youth, he appeared in the provinces, in minor parts; and at Bath in 1768 he formed a connexion with a Mrs Walmsley, a milliner, who bore him a son, but whom he afterwards deserted. His first London appearance was at the Haymarket in 1776 as Flaw in Samuel Foote's ''The Cozeners'', but when George Colman took over the theatre he was given better parts and became its leading actor. In 1779 he was at Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ..., and played there or at the Haymarket until his death. Ascribed to him are ''The Last Legacy of John Edwin'', 1780; ''Edwin's Jests'' and ''Edwin's Pills to Purge Melancholy''. References * * * External li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 the stage in the provinces, and some three years later began to appear in minor parts at Covent Garden Theatre. His first role of importance was that of Young Marlow in ''She Stoops to Conquer'', at its production of that comedy in 1773, when he delivered an epilogue specially written for him by Goldsmith. He remained a member of the Covent Garden company until 1783, appearing in many parts, among which were Fag in ''The Rivals'', which he created, and Sir Anthony Absolute in the same comedy. In 1783 he removed to Drury Lane, where he assumed the Shakespearian rôles of Touchstone, Lucio, and Falstaff. In 1787 he left London for Edinburgh, where he gave recitations, including Cowper's " John Gilpin". For a short time in 1792 Lewes assist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
