''The Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey'', often shortened to ''Lady Jane Grey'', is a 1715

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

by the British writer Nicholas Rowe. It portrays the brief reign of

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned ...

, a pretender to the English throne following the death of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

and her defeat and execution by

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

in 1554. The title role was played by the prominent actress

Anne Oldfield Anne Oldfield (168323 October 1730) was an England, English actress and one of the highest paid actresses of her time. Early life and discovery She was born in London in 1683. Her father was a soldier, James Oldfield. Her mother was either Ann ...

. The cast also included

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

as the Duke of Northumberland,

Barton Booth Barton Booth (168210 May 1733) was one of the most famous British dramatic actors of the first part of the 18th century. Early life Booth was the son of The Hon and Very Revd Dr Robert Booth, Dean of Bristol, by his first wife and distant co ...

as Lord Guilford Dudley and Lacy Ryan as the Earl of Sussex,

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 Bishop Gardiner, James Quin as the Lieutenant of the Tower and Mary Porter as the Duchess of Suffolk. Rowe was a staunch Whig and wrote the play in the wake of the

Hanoverian Succession The Act of Settlement ( 12 & 13 Will. 3. c. 2) is an act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catho ...

where George I had taken the throne ahead of his Catholic Jacobite rival James Stuart, who launched an unsuccessful rebellion later in 1715. Rowe dedicated the work to Caroline, Princess of Wales drawing comparisons between her and Lady Jane Grey as a rightful Protestant heir.Dennison p.151 Shortly afterwards he was appointed Poet Laureate. It was the final play written by Rowe. Although not his most successful play, it was revived on a number of occasions during the following century. The 1836 opera '' Giovanna Gray'', with a libretto by Carlo Pepoli, was based on the play.

References

Bibliography

* Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Dennison, Matthew. ''The First Iron Lady: A Life of Caroline of Ansbach''. HarperCollins, 2017.

External links

Lady Jane Gray
in the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

1715 plays Plays by Nicholas Rowe West End plays Plays set in the 16th century Plays set in London Plays based on actual events Cultural depictions of Lady Jane Grey Cultural depictions of Lord Guildford Dudley Tragedy plays Biographical plays about English royalty Caroline of Ansbach {{1710s-play-stub