George Powell (1668? – 1714) was a 17th-century London actor and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

who was a member of 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 ...

. He was the son of the actor

Martin Powell Martin Powell is an English musician. In 1991, Powell auditioned for the position of bass player in the band My Dying Bride, but was turned down as the band had just filled the position. Upon informing the band he was also a violin and keyboa ...

, a long-standing member of the

King's Company The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London, after the London theatre closure 1642, London theatre closure had been lifted at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 166 ...

Plays

In his playwrighting Powell has been called 'an unscrupulous and opportunistic appropriator, gleaning materials from a variety of sources'. He was embroiled in a plagiarism scandal after writing a misogynistic play called ''The Imposture Defeated; or, A Trick to Cheat the Devil'', first performed in September 1697. This play portrayed the proper treatment of an adulteress as brutal confinement and isolation from others to punish her and prevent the spread of her attitude. It is widely accepted that Powell had plagiarised from the then unpublished manuscript of

Mary Pix Mary Pix (1666 – 17 May 1709) was an English novelist and playwright. As an admirer of Aphra Behn and colleague of Susanna Centlivre, Pix has been called "a link between women writers of the Stuart Restoration, Restoration and Augustan litera ...

's '' The Deceiver Deceived''. Theatre critic Charles Gildon called Powell's version the inferior of the two. Powell also wrote the plays ''

Alphonso, King of Naples ''Alphonso, King of Naples'' is a 1690 tragedy by the English writer George Powell (playwright), George Powell. First staged by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the original cast included John Bowman (actor), John Bowman as A ...

'' (first performed in December 1690), '' A Very Good Wife'' (first performed in April 1693), ''Bonduca: or, The British Heroine'' (1695) and '' The Treacherous Brothers'' (first performed in January 1690) under his own name. Each of these plays premièred at London's

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 ...

. In collaboration with John Verbruggen, he wrote ''A new opera called Brutus of Alba: or, Augusta's Triumph'', first performed in 1696 at Dorset Garden, London. All of the works he wrote or co-wrote were tragedies. The United Company broke in two in 1694, with the walking out of senior actors including Thomas Betterton, Elizabeth Barry, and Anne Bracegirdle. It is unlikely that Powell was invited to join them: while he was skilled and experienced, he was also notorious for his bad temper and alcoholism (Milhous). At the première of

John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restor ...

's '' The Relapse'' in November 1696, Powell was according to Vanbrugh so drunk that when playing the seducer Worthy he molested the heroine Amanda in a much more physical way than the script provided for. He was married to the actress Mary Powell.

Selected roles

* Jack Rakish in '' Woman's Wit'' by

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 ...

(1697) * ''

Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...

'' by Nicholas Rowe (1701)

References

*Milhous, Judith (1979). ''Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln's Inn Fields 1695–1708''. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
Restoration Theatre Song Archive at Monash University, Australia, retrieved 15 July 2005Eighteenth Century Women Playwrights -- Past Masters, retrieved 15 July 2005The Literary Encyclopedia, by The Literary Dictionary Company Limited; page for Pix, Mary, retrieved 15 July 2005

External links

*Paula R. Backscheider
'Powell, George (1668?–1714)'
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 4 June 2007 English dramatists and playwrights 1660s births 1714 deaths English male dramatists and playwrights 17th-century English male actors 18th-century English male actors English male stage actors {{England-writer-stub