''A Very Good Wife'' is a 1693

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 endi ...

by the English writer George Powell. 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

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and listed building, Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) an ...

with a cast that included Powell as Courtwitt, John Hodgson as Wellborn, William Bowen as Squeezwit, George Bright as Venture,

Joseph Haines Joseph Haines (died 4 April 1701), also known as Jo Haines, was a 17th-century actor, singer, dancer, guitarist, guitar player, fortune teller, and author. ''The Life of the Late Famous Comedian, Jo. Hayns'', possibly written by fellow player T ...

as Sneaksby,

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 ...

as Aminadab,

Susanna Mountfort Susanna Mountfort (1690-1720) was a British stage actress. She was the daughter of the actors William Mountfort and his wife Susanna Mountfort. In 1692 her father was killed in a duel and her mother remarried and became known as Susanna Verbrug ...

as Annabella,

Frances Maria Knight Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from ...

as Widow Lacy,

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 he ...

as Mrs Sneaksby.Van Lennep p.420

References

Bibliography

* Van Lennep, W. ''The London Stage, 1660-1800: Volume One, 1660-1700''. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960. 1693 plays West End plays British comedy plays Plays by George Powell {{17thC-play-stub