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Pastor Fido
''Pastor Fido; Or, The Faithful Shepherd'' is a 1676 tragicomedy by the English writer Elkanah Settle. It was first performed by the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London. It is inspired by Giovanni Battista Guarini's pastoral work ''Il pastor fido''. The original cast included Matthew Medbourne as Montano, John Crosby as Sylvio, William Smith as Mirtillo, Thomas Betterton as Sylvano, Henry Norris as Ergasto, Thomas Percival as Carino, John Richards as Dameta, Thomas Gillow as Lynco, Mary Betterton as Amaryllis, Mary Lee as Corisca and Margaret Hughes Margaret Hughes (29 May 1630 – 1 October 1719), also Peg Hughes or Margaret Hewes, was an English actress who is often credited as the first professional actress on the English stage, as a result of her appearance on 8 December 1660.The nat ... as Gerana.Van Lennep p.252 References Bibliography * Van Lennep, W. ''The London Stage, 1660-1800: Volume One, 1660-1700''. Southern Illinois University Pres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elkanah Settle
Elkanah Settle (1 February 1648 – 12 February 1724) was an English poet and playwright. Biography He was born at Dunstable, and entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1666, but left without taking a degree. His first tragedy, '' Cambyses, King of Persia'', was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1667. The success of this play led the Earl of Rochester to encourage the new writer as a rival to John Dryden. Through his influence, Settle's '' The Empress of Morocco'' (1673) was twice performed at Whitehall, and proved a great success. It is said by John Dennis to have been "the first play that was ever sold in England for two shillings, and the first play that was ever printed with cuts." These illustrations represent scenes in the theatre, and make the book very valuable. The play was printed with a preface to the Earl of Norwich, in which Settle described with scorn the effusive dedications of other dramatic poets. Dryden was obviously aimed at, and he co-operated with John C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Betterton
Thomas Betterton (August 1635 – 28 April 1710) was the leading male actor and theatre manager during Restoration England. He was the son of an under-cook to King Charles I and was born in London. Apprentice and actor Betterton was born in August 1635 in Tothill Street, Westminster. He was apprenticed to John Holden, Sir William Davenant's publisher, and possibly later to a bookseller named John Rhodes, who had been wardrobe-keeper at the Blackfriars Theatre. In 1659, Rhodes obtained a license to set up a company of players at the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane; and on the reopening of this theatre in 1660, Betterton made his first appearance on the stage. Betterton's talents at once brought him into prominence, and he was given leading parts. On the opening of the new theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1661, Davenant, the patentee of the Duke's Company, engaged Betterton and all Rhodes's company to play in his '' The Siege of Rhodes''. Also in 1661 he played Prince Alva ... [...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] |
1676 Plays
Events January–March * January 29 – Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia. * January 31 – Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, the oldest institution of higher education in Central America, is founded. * January – Six months into King Philip's War, Metacomet (King Philip), leader of the Algonquian tribe known as the Wampanoag, travels westward to the Mohawk nation, seeking an alliance with the Mohawks against the English colonists of New England; his efforts in creating such an alliance are a failure. * February 10 – After the Nipmuc tribe attacks Lancaster, Massachusetts, colonist Mary Rowlandson is taken captive, and lives with the Indians until May. * February 14 – Metacomet and his Wampanoags attack Northampton, Massachusetts; meanwhile, the Massachusetts Council debates whether a wall should be erected around Boston. * February 23 – While the Massachusetts Council debates how to handle the Christian Indians they had exile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Hughes
Margaret Hughes (29 May 1630 – 1 October 1719), also Peg Hughes or Margaret Hewes, was an English actress who is often credited as the first professional actress on the English stage, as a result of her appearance on 8 December 1660.The nationality specification is essential. The earliest kabuki performers in Japan in 1603 were women. An Italian actress was reported as early as 1565–66; see Rennert, ''Spanish Stage,'' p. 140. Thomas Coryate, in ''Coryate's Crudities,'' noted actresses in Venice in 1611; see Halliday, ''Shakespeare Companion,'' p. 22. For amateur precedents, see: '' Tempe Restored;'' '' The Shepherd's Paradise.'' Hughes was the mistress of the English Civil War general Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Women in Restoration drama Hughes became an actress during a period of great change in English drama which had suffered greatly during the English Civil War and the Interregnum, being banned by the Puritan Long Parliament in 1642.Spencer, p. 314. This ban was fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Slingsby
Mary, Lady Slingsby, born Aldridge (perhaps died 1693), was an English actress. After a marriage lasting 1670 to 1680 to John Lee, an actor, during which she was on the stage as Mrs. Lee, she was widowed. She then married Sir Charles Slingsby, 2nd Baronet, a nephew of Sir Robert Slingsby, and performed as Lady Slingsby. Theatre historians have pointed out the difficulty in identifying her roles in the period when Elinor Leigh, wife of Anthony Leigh, was performing as Mrs. Leigh, because the homophones "Lee" and "Leigh" were not consistently spelled at the time. Stage career In 1671 Mrs Lee appeared at Lincoln's Inn Fields in the character of Daranthe in Edward Howard's tragi-comedy ''Woman's Conquest'', and as Leticia in ''Town-Shifts, or the Suburb-Justice'', attributed to Edward Revet, and licensed on 2 May 1672. Next, at Dorset Garden, where Mrs Lee remained for ten years, she played opposite Æmilia in Joseph Arrowsmith's ''Reformation'' (1672). In ''Henry VI, Part I, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Betterton
Mary Saunderson (1637–1712), later known as Mary Saunderson Betterton after her marriage to Thomas Betterton, was an actress and singer in England during the 1660s and 1690s. She is considered one of the first English actresses. Stage career Her most notable accomplishments are her being the first female actress to portray several of Shakespeare's woman characters on the professional stage. She was the first to portray Juliet in ''Romeo and Juliet'', Lady Macbeth in ''Macbeth'', and other female roles in ''The Tempest'', ''Hamlet'' (as Ophelia), ''Measure for Measure'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Twelfth Night'', ''King Lear''. In Shakespeare's day, female roles were played by teenage boys, as women and young girls were not allowed on the stage. By the 1660s, however, the laws in England had changed, allowing females to act professionally. Mary's connections through her husband, Thomas, who was also a famous actor, allowed her to play several significant roles. Saunderson h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Gillow
Thomas Gillow (died 1687) was an English stage actor of the Restoration era. His name was sometimes written Gilloe or Gillo. His first known role was at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in Samuel Pordage's '' Herod and Mariamne'' in 1671. He remained with the Duke's Company at the Dorset Gardens Theatre until the merger that created the United Company in 1682. His first role at Drury Lane was in John Dryden's '' The Duke of Guise'' in November that year. He remained a prominent member of the company, appearing in a mixture of comedies and tragedies. He died in May 1687 and was buried at St Bride's Church in the City of London. An actress billed as Mrs Gillow appeared at the Dorset Street Theatre between 1675 and 1678 and this may have been his wife Mary Gillow.Highfill, Burnim & Langhans p.214 Selected roles * Sosius in '' Herod and Mariamne'' by Samuel Pordage (1671) * Lamot in '' Love and Revenge'' by Elkanah Settle (1674) * Polyndus in ''Alcibiades'' by Thomas Otway (1675 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Richards (actor)
John Richards was an English stage actor of the seventeenth century. An early member of the Duke's Company in London, he was lured away to the new Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin by John Ogilby.Roberts p.143 He was back with the Duke's at the Dorset Garden Theatre from the mid-1670s, but while in Ireland he was able to play major roles his English performances were generally supporting parts. Selected roles * Fryar in ''Romeo and Juliet'' by William Shakespeare (1662) * Castruchio in ''The Duchess of Malfi'' by John Webster (1662) * Pyrrhus in '' Mustapha'' by Roger Boyle (1665) * Zarrack in ''Abdelazer'' by Aphra Behn (1676) * Prating Shop Keeper in '' The Wrangling Lovers'' by Edward Ravenscroft (1676) * Laurence in '' Tom Essence'' by Thomas Rawlins (1676) * Flaile in '' Madam Fickle'' by Thomas D'Urfey (1676) * Shift in '' The Cheats of Scapin'' by Thomas Otway (1676) * Dameta in ''Pastor Fido'' by Elkanah Settle (1676) * Stephano in '' The Rover'' by Aphra Behn (1677) * Spat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Percival (actor)
Thomas Percival or Percivall was an English stage actor of the seventeenth century.Johnson p.127 He was a member of the Duke's Company from 1671 to 1682 and then the merged United Company until 1686. Throughout his career he was confined to playing supporting roles, never graduating to major parts. He was the father of the actress Susanna Verbruggen. In 1693, following his retirement from the stage, he was arrested for coin clipping, a capital crime, for which he was sentenced to hang at Tyburn. The intercession of his daughter with Mary II saw his sentence commuted to transportation, but before he reached Portsmouth he died of natural causes. Selected roles * Burbon in '' Love and Revenge'' by Elkanah Settle (1674) * Osmin in ''Abdelazer'' by Aphra Behn (1676) * Old Monylove in '' Tom Essence'' by Thomas Rawlins (1676) * Sir Nicholas Gimcrack in '' The Virtuoso'' by Thomas Shadwell (1676) * Ordgano in '' The Wrangling Lovers'' by Edward Ravenscroft (1676) * Carino in '' Pastor F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Norris (actor)
Henry Norris (1665–1730?), also known as "Jubilee Dicky", was an English actor. Biography Norris was the son of Norris, an actor, who joined Sir William D'Avenant's company, known as the king's servants, and was the original Lovis in Etherege's ‘Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub,’ licensed 1664. Henry's mother, Mrs. Norris, said by Davies to have been the first English actress on the stage, was the original Lady Dupe in ‘Sir Martin Marrall, or Feigned Innocence,’ a translation of ‘L'Étourdi’ of Molière by the Duke of Newcastle and Dryden. The son was born in 1665 in Salisbury Court, near the spot on which the Dorset Garden Theatre The Dorset Garden Theatre in London, built in 1671, was in its early years also known as the Duke of York's Theatre, or the Duke's Theatre. In 1685, King Charles II died and his brother, the Duke of York, was crowned as James II. When the Du ... subsequently stood. In 1695, he was engaged by Ashbury to play in Dublin at Smock All ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Smith (stage Actor)
William, Willie, Will, Bill, or Billy Smith may refer to: Academics * William Smith (Master of Clare College, Cambridge) (1556–1615), English academic * William Smith (antiquary) (c. 1653–1735), English antiquary and historian of University College, Oxford * William Smith (scholar) (1711–1787), English classical scholar and Anglican Dean of Chester * William Smith (Episcopal priest) (1727–1803), Scottish-born first provost of University of Pennsylvania * William Pitt Smith (1760–1796), American physician, educator and theological writer * William Andrew Smith (1802–1870), American college president and clergyman * William Smith (lexicographer) (1813–1893), English editor and publisher of dictionaries * William Robertson Smith (1846–1894), Scottish philologist, physicist, archaeologist and Biblical critic * William Benjamin Smith (1850–1934), American professor of mathematics at Tulane University * William Ramsay Smith (1859–1937), Australian anthropologist * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
