''A Fool's Preferment; Or, The Three Dukes Of Dunstable'' is a 1688

comedy play Comedy is a genre of dramatic performance having a light or humorous tone that depicts amusing incidents and in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity. For ancient Greeks and Romans, a comedy was a stage-play with a happy ending ...

by the English writer

Thomas D'Urfey Thomas d'Urfey (a.k.a. Tom Durfey; 165326 February 1723) was an English writer and wit. He wrote plays, songs, jokes, and poems. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the ballad opera. Life D'Urfey was born in Devons ...

. It is a reworking of John Fletcher's Jacobean work '' The Noble Gentleman''. It was first performed by the

United Company The United Company was a London theatre company formed in 1682 with the merger of the King's Company and the Duke's Company. Both the Duke's and King's Companies suffered poor attendance during the turmoil of the Popish Plot period, 1678–8 ...

at 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, Charles II of England, King Charles II died and his brother, the Duke of York, was crowned as ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest En ...

composed the play's

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead ...

. It was his first major work composing for the theatre in seven years since '' Sir Barnaby Whigg''. The original cast featured

James Nokes James Nokes (Noke, Noak, Noakes) (died c.1692) was an English actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media suc ...

as Cocklebrain, Anthony Leigh as Justice,

William Mountfort William Mountfort (c. 1664 – 10 December 1692), English actor and dramatic writer, was the son of a Staffordshire gentleman. Biography His first stage appearance was with the Dorset Garden Theatre company about 1678, and by 1682 he was ...

as Lyonel,

Edward Kynaston Edward Kynaston may refer to: *Edward Kynaston (actor) Edward Kynaston (c. 1640 – January 1706) was an English actor, one of the last Restoration "boy players", young male actors who played women's roles. Career Kynaston was good looking ...

as Clermont, George Powell as Longevile, John Bowman as Bewford, Thomas Jevon as Toby, Martin Powell as Usher and Elizabeth Boutell as Aurelia.Van Lennep p.362-63

References

Bibliography

* Canfield, J. Douglas. ''Tricksters and Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy''. University Press of Kentucky, 2014. * Price, Curtis A. ''Henry Purcell and the London Stage''. Cambridge University Press, 1984. * Van Lennep, W. ''The London Stage, 1660-1800: Volume One, 1660-1700''. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960. 1688 plays West End plays Plays by Thomas d'Urfey Restoration comedy {{17thC-play-stub