John O'Keeffe (24 June 1747 – 4 February 1833) was an Irish actor and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

. He wrote a number of farces, amusing dramatic pieces and librettos for

pasticcio In music, a ''pasticcio'' or ''pastiche'' is an opera or other musical work composed of works by different composers who may or may not have been working together, or an adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, ...

operas, many of which had great success. Among these are '' Tony Lumpkin in Town'' (1778), '' Love in a Camp'' (1786), and ''

Omai Mai ( 1753–1779), also known as Omai in Europe, was a young Ra'iatean man who became the first Pacific Islander to visit England, and the second to visit Europe, after Ahutoru who was brought to Paris by Bougainville in 1768. Life M ...

'' (1785), an account of the voyages of the Tahitian explorer

, and '' Wild Oats'' (1791).

Early life

O'Keeffe was born in

Abbey Street Abbey Street () is a major street, located on the Northside of Dublin city centre, running from the Customs House and Beresford Place in the east to Capel Street in the west, where it continues as Mary's Abbey. The street is served by two L ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 1747 to

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parents and was educated by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. His father was from King's County and his mother (née O'Connor) from

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

. After showing a talent for drawing he studied

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

at an academy in Dublin, but grew increasingly more interested in the theatre. After a two-year period in London, where he became an admirer of

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1716 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, Actor-manager, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil a ...

, he settled on a career as an actor and playwright. O'Keeffe wrote his first play ''The She Gallant'' when he was twenty, and it was performed in Dublin at the

Smock Alley Theatre Since the 17th century, there have been numerous theatres in Dublin with the name Smock Alley. The current Smock Alley Theatre () is a 21st-century theatre in Dublin, converted from a 19th-century church building, incorporating structural mat ...

. In Cork, in late September 1774, O'Keeffe married Mary Heaphy, a Protestant actress and the daughter of Tottenham Heaphy, manager of the Dublin Theatre Royal. The marriage ended badly when O'Keeffe discovered that she was having an affair with the Scottish actor George Graham. O'Keeffe left Ireland with their children, and Mary was denied access to her son and daughter, John Tottenham O'Keeffe and Adelaide O'Keeffe.Clare L. Taylor: 'O'Keeffe, Adelaide (1776–1865)', in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004); online edn, May 2009, accessed 20 Jan 2017. Mary Heaphy, according to Adelaide O'Keeffe's memoir of her father, married Graham without first divorcing her husband. She did not consider her marriage to the Catholic John O'Keeffe to be sufficiently binding.

Success

In 1777, O'Keeffe moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The following year he wrote '' Tony Lumpkin in Town'', a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to Oliver Goldsmith's ''

She Stoops to Conquer ''She Stoops to Conquer'' is a comedy by Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in the English-speaking world. It is one of the few plays ...

'', and sent it to the manager of the

Haymarket Theatre The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre in Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in ...

. The play was successfully produced, and O'Keeffe regularly wrote for the Haymarket thereafter.Hager (2005), p. 182. In 1782, O'Keeffe had his two children sent abroad to France to prevent their mother's access to them. His son did well but his daughter suffered in convent schools. Between 1782 and 1796, O'Keeffe wrote around 28 plays and

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

s for

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

s. '' The Poor Soldier'' (1783), a comic opera with libretto by O'Keeffe and music by William Shield, was a farce about the lives of British soldiers returning home after the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. O'Keeffe also wrote ''The Son-in-Law'', ''Agreeable Surprise'' (which includes the lyrical poem ''Amo, Amas''), and ''The Castle of Andalusia''. O'Keeffe had problems with his eyes ever since he had fallen into the

River Liffey The River Liffey (Irish language, Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major Tributary, tributaries include t ...

in his youth. From the mid-1770s, O'Keeffe increasingly lost his sight, and from 1781 his plays had to be dictated by him. In spite of this, he was a prolific writer and was the most-frequently produced playwright in London in the last quarter of the 18th century. O'Keeffe contributed many Irish folksongs to the musical scores by Samuel Arnold and Shield such as '' I am a Friar of Orders Grey'' and '' The Thorn'' are still popular. For many of these songs, the comic operas are the earliest source. From 1788, his only daughter Adelaide became his amanuensis and eventual caretaker until his death. Adelaide O'Keeffe was a popular novelist and an important children's poet who authored the first children's novel in verse, ''A Trip to the Coast'' (1819).For additional information on Adelaide O'Keeffe's importance as a children's poet, see Donelle Ruwe ''British Children's Poetry: Verse, Riddle, and Rhyme'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). See also Donelle Ruwe: "Dramatic Monologues and the Novel-in-Verse: Adelaide O'Keeffe and the Creation of Theatrical Children's Poetry in the Long Eighteenth Century", in ''The Lion and the Unicorn'', vol. 33, no. 1, 2009, pp. 219–34. In 1800, a benefit performance was staged for him at Covent Garden. In 1826, O'Keeffe wrote his

memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...

, which covered his life experiences and various interactions with the leading artistic figures of his day. The memoirs were dictated to his daughter Adelaide who oversaw their publication. The same year he was awarded a

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

. However, much of the information in his memoir is not accurate. In the year following his death, Adelaide O'Keeffe completed her own memoir of her father; "Memoir" prefaced her edited collection of his poetry, ''O'Keeffe's Legacy to His Daughter, Being the Poetic Works of the Late John O'Keeffe, Esq., the Dramatic Author''. He died in 1833 in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and was buried there.Baines p.256

Legacy

In the 19th century, the essayist

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...

described O'Keeffe as the "English

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

", observing "in light, careless laughter and pleasant exaggeration of the humorous, we have no equal to him". His ''Wild Oats'' has been revived in 1976, 1995 and 2012 by the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

, the

Royal National Theatre The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

and the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...

respectively.

Selected works

* '' The Dutchman Outwitted'' (1767) * '' The She Gallent'' (1767) * '' The Giant's Causeway'' (1770) * '' The Shamrock'' (1777) * '' Tony Lumpkin in Town'' (1778) * '' The Son-in-Law'' (1779) * '' The Banditti'' (1781) * '' The Agreeable Surprise'' (1781) * '' The Castle of Andalusia'' (1782) * '' Harlequin Teague'' (1782) * '' The Lord Mayor's Day'' (1782) * '' The Dead Alive'' (1783) * '' The Poor Soldier'' (1783) * '' The Young Quaker'' (1784) * ''

Peeping Tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...

'' (1784) * ''

'' (1785) * '' The Blacksmith of Antwerp'' (1785) * '' Love in a Camp'' (1786) * '' The Siege of Curzola'' (1786) * '' The Farmer'' (1787) * '' The Prisoner at Large'' (1788) * '' The Toy'' (1789) * '' Wild Oats'' (1791) * '' The London Hermit'' (1793) * ''

The World in a Village ''The World in a Village'' is a 1793 comedy play by the Irish writer John O'Keeffe (writer), John O'Keeffe. It was staged at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 23 November 1793. The original cast included John Powell (actor), John Powel ...

'' (1793) * '' Life's Vagaries'' (1795) * '' The Wicklow Mountains'' (1795) * '' The Doldrum'' (1796)

References

Bibliography

* Baines, Paul & Ferraro, Julian & Rogers, Pat: ''The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth Century Writers and Writing: 1660-1789'' (Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011) *Boydell, Brian: "O'Keeffe, John", in: ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' (MGG), biographical part, vol. 15 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2006), cc. 702–3 * Fleischmann, Aloys (ed.): ''Sources of Irish Traditional Music c.1600–1855'' (New York: Garland, 1998) * Hager, Alan: ''Encyclopedia of British Writers: 16th, 17th & 18th Centuries'' (New York: Book Builders, 2005) * Klein, Axel: "Stage-Irish, or The National in Irish Opera, 1780–1925", in: ''Opera Quarterly'' vol. 21 (2005) no. 1, p. 27–67.

External links

John O'Keeffe
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)

The Poor Soldier: A Comic Opera, in Two Acts: with all the original songs
by John O'Keefe (O'Keeffe). A prompter's copy of the dialog and lyrics (no music) digitized from the collections of the

New York State Library The New York State Library is a research library in Albany, New York, United States. It was established in 1818 to serve the state government of New York and is part of the New York State Education Department. The library is one of the large ...

. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okeeffe, John 1747 births 1833 deaths 18th-century Irish writers 19th-century Irish writers Irish librettists Irish male dramatists and playwrights Writers from Dublin (city) Irish emigrants to Kingdom of Great Britain