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Elizabeth Farren
Elizabeth Stanley, Countess of Derby (c. 175923 April 1829), known as Elizabeth Farren, was an Irish actress of the late 18th century. She was born in Cork in 1759 to George Farren, a surgeon. His drinking habits brought on early death and his widow returned to Liverpool. Her mother went on the stage to support herself and her children. Elizabeth first appeared on the London stage in 1777 as Miss Hardcastle in '' She Stoops to Conquer'' and the following year appeared at Drury Lane which, along with the Haymarket Theatre became her primary venues for the rest of her acting career. She had over 100 characters in her repertoire including Shakespeare and various contemporary comedies and dramas. She was often compared to Frances Abington, who was her only real rival. Her last appearance was in April 1797, two months before her marriage to Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby. They had one daughter. Early life Elizabeth (sometimes Eliza) Farren was the daughter of George Farr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portrait Of Elizabeth Farren
''Portrait of Elizabeth Farren, Later Countess of Derby'' is an oil on canvas painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence. Produced probably in 1790, it is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, to which it was donated by Edward S. Harkness in 1940. As its title states, its subject the actress Elizabeth Farren married Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby in 1797, seven years after the painting. It was displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1790 at Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ... along with Lawrence's '' Portrait of Queen Charlotte''. Description Farren is represented here as a high society lady, elegantly dressed in noble fabrics and fur. Lawrence skillfully represents light on this type of fabric. Despite the elegance o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir ''An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber'' (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style. He wrote 25 plays for his own company at Drury Lane, half of which were adapted from various sources, which led Robert Lowe and Alexander Pope, among others, to criticise his "miserable mutilation" of "crucified Molière [and] hapless William Shakespeare, Shakespeare". He regarded himself as first and foremost an actor and had great popular success in comical fop parts, while as a tragic actor he was persistent but much ridiculed. Cibber's brash, extroverted personality did not sit well with his contemporaries, and he was frequently accused of tasteless theatrical productions, shady business methods, and a social and political opportunism that was thought to have gained him the laureateship ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fair Circassian
''The Fair Circassian'' is a 1781 tragedy by the British writer Samuel Jackson Pratt. It is an adaptation of the novel '' Almoran and Hamet'' by John Hawkesworth. He wrote the lead role for his friend Sarah Siddons, but due to other commitments it ended up being played by Elizabeth Farren. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 27 November 1781 with a cast that included William Smith as Hamet, Robert Bensley as Omar, John Hayman Packer as Ali, James Wrighten as Principle Iman and Elizabeth Farren as Almeida. The epilogue was written by the Irish Whig politician Richard FitzPatrick, although it has also been attributed to Richard Brinsley Sheridan Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, writer and Whig politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1780 to 1812, representing the constituencies of Stafford, Westminster and I ....Hogan p.479 References Bibliography * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harriet Lee (writer)
Harriet Lee was an English writer and novelist, born in London in 1757, and died near Bristol at Clifton, England, on August 1, 1851. Her father, John Lee, was an actor and theatrical manager who died in 1781, her mother, name unknown, was also an actress. Additionally, she was the sister of Sophia Lee (1750–1824), a notable dramatist. Life Lee was born in London in 1757. After the death of her father, John Lee, in 1781, she helped her sister, Sophia Lee, manage a private school in Belvedere House, Bath. In 1786, she published ''The Errors of Innocence,'' a novel broken up into five volumes, written in epistolary form. She also wrote a comedy, called '' The New Peerage,'' which was performed at Drury Lane on November 10, 1787. It had a prologue written by Richard Cumberland. Although it was performed nine times, it was not successful enough to encourage her to continue writing for the stage. John Genest described it as '''on the whole, a poor play. It was published w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Camp (play)
''The Camp: A Musical Entertainment'' is a 1778 play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, with assistance from John Burgoyne and David Garrick. The set designs were by Philip James de Loutherbourg. The play gently satirised the preparations of the British to organise home defences during the American War of Independence when an invasion of the British Isles by France, and later Spain, seemed imminent. It focuses on a military camp placed near Coxheath in Southern England. It premiered on 15 October 1778 at the Drury Lane Theatre. The play was produced at a time when a genuine sense of crisis swept the country following France's entry into the war which culminated in the failed Armada of 1779. Because of his death while working on the play, Garrick is sometimes said to be the only casualty of the French invasion. The play proved to be a hit. It was the most performed work at the Drury Lane Theatre during the 1778-1779 season, comfortably beating ''School for Scandal ''The School ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Way Of The World
''The Way of the World'' is a play written by the English playwright William Congreve. It premiered in early March 1700 in the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. It is widely regarded as one of the best works of Restoration comedy ever written, and a centerpiece of the genre. It is still occasionally performed in operas, concerts, and theatres. Initially, however, the play struck many audience members as continuing the "immorality" of the previous decades, and was not well received. Characters The play is based on the two lovers Mirabell and Millamant (originally played by John Verbruggen and Anne Bracegirdle). In order for them to marry and receive Millamant's full dowry, Mirabell must receive the blessing of Millamant's aunt, Lady Wishfort. Unfortunately, Lady Wishfort is a very bitter lady who despises Mirabell and wants her own nephew, Sir Wilfull, to wed Millamant. Meanwhile, Lady Wishfort, a widow, wants to marry again and has her eyes on an uncle of Mirabell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (disguised as a page named 'Cesario') falls in love with the Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her, thinking she is a man. The play expanded on the musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of the occasion, with plot elements drawn from Barnabe Rich's short story "Of Apollonius and Silla", based on a story by Matteo Bandello. The first documented public performance was on 2 February 1602, at Candlemas, the formal end of Christmastide in the year's calendar. The play was not published until its inclusion in the 1623 First Folio. Characters * Viola – a shipwrecked young woman who disguises hersel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter's Tale
''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "Shakespearean problem play, problem plays" because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comic and supply a happy ending. The play has been intermittently popular, having been revived in productions and adaptations by some of the leading theatre practitioners in Shakespeare's plays#Performance history, Shakespearean performance history. In the mid-18th century, after a long interval without major performances, David Garrick premiered his adaptation ''Florizel and Perdita'' (first performed in 1753 and published in 1756). ''The Winter's Tale'' was revived again in the 19th century, when the fourth "pastoral" act was widely popular. In the seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All In The Wrong
''All in the Wrong'' is a 1761 comedy play by the Irish writer Arthur Murphy. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, the under the management of David Garrick, on 15 June 1761.Nicoll p.290 The original cast included Richard Yates as Sir John Restless, William O'Brien William O'Brien (2 October 1852 – 25 February 1928) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of ... as Beverley, John Hayman Packer as Young Bellmont, Thomas Weston as Brush, Servant to Beverley, Astley Bransby as Blandford, Charles Blakes as Robert, Hannah Haughton as Lady Restless, Mary Ann Yates as Belinda, Mary Bradshaw as Tattle, Servant to Lady Restless and Jane Hippesley as Tippet, Servant to Belinda. References Bibliography * Emery, John Pike. ''Arthur Murphy: An Eminent English Dramatist of the Eighteenth Century''. University of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (now known collectively as the Royal Ballet and Opera). 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 disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856 to previous buildings. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The main auditorium ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provoked Wife
''The Provoked Wife'' (1697) is the second original comedy written by John Vanbrugh. It made its first appearance in Lincoln's Inn Fields in May, 1697. The premise of the plot, of a wife trapped in an abusive marriage might consider either leaving it or taking a lover, outraged some sections of Restoration society. A later unfinished play by Vanbrugh was completed by Colley Cibber and staged under the title '' The Provoked Husband'' in 1728. Plot The hitherto virtuous Lady Brute is provoked to infidelity by her sour husband Sir John Brute. Married in haste – she for money, he for sex – the Brutes are shackled by wedlock but looking for diversions. He goes off for a drunken night on the town and ends up before a magistrate, disguised in his wife's frock. Meanwhile, Lady Brute and her niece Belinda dress as Shepherd Market doxies for a secret tryst with their suitors Heartfree and Constant and are spied on by the envious Lady Fanciful, who wants Heartfree for herself. Belinda, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Barber Of Seville (play)
''The Barber of Seville or the Useless Precaution'' () is a French Play (theatre), play by Pierre Beaumarchais, with original music by Antoine-Laurent Baudron. It was initially conceived as an ''opéra comique'', and was rejected as such in 1772 by the Opéra-Comique, Comédie-Italienne. The play as it is now known was written in 1773, but, due to legal and political problems of the author, it was not performed until February 23, 1775, at the Comédie-Française in the Théâtre des Tuileries, Tuileries. It is the first play in a trilogy of which the other constituents are ''The Marriage of Figaro (play), The Marriage of Figaro'' and ''The Guilty Mother''. Though the play was poorly received at first, Beaumarchais worked some fast editing of the script, turning it into a roaring success after three days. The play's title might be a pun on Tirso de Molina's earlier play ''The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest, El Burlador de Sevilla'' (''The Trickster of Seville''). Wolfg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
