''The Refusal, Or, The Ladies Philosophy'' is a 1721

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 British writer

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 ...

. It is a reworking of the 1672 farce '' Les Femmes Savantes'' by

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 ...

, with reference to the recent

South Sea Bubble South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

. The original Drury Lane Theatre cast included Cibber himself as Witling, William Penkethman as Sir Gilbert Wangle,

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 Granger,

Robert Wilks Robert Wilks (''c.'' 1665 – 27 September 1732) was a British actor and theatrical manager who was one of the leading managers of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in its heyday of the 1710s. He was, with Colley Cibber and Thomas Doggett, one of the ...

as Frankly, Margaret Bicknell as Lady Wrangle,

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 ...

as Sophronia and

Hester Santlow Hester Santlow (married name Hester Booth; c. 1690 – 1773) was a British ballerina and actress, who has been called "England's first ballerina". She was influential in many spheres of theatrical life. Life Hester Santlow was born circa 1690. ...

as Charlotte. To counter Cibber's production, John Rich manager at the rival Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre put on a revival of another English-language version of Molière's play ''

The Female Virtuosos ''The Female Virtuosos'' is a 1693 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Wright. It is based on the 1672 play ''Les Femmes Savantes'' by the French writer Molière about two young sisters who try and get out of a marriage arrangement with a f ...

'' by Thomas Wright. Added problems for Cibber came on the first night of the production when political opponents of his (most probably over his association with the Whig leader

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prim ...

) began heckling and drowning out the performance. The play managed to last for six performances in total, a respectable amount for a comedy during the period. It was not performed again in Cibber's lifetime, but then became a standard part of the

repertory A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom ...

until the end of the eighteenth century.Koon p.101

Plot

Two young woman both have men they wish to marry, but their father has given first refusal to a fop. Together they try and work their way around the obstacle.

References

Bibliography

* Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700–1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Koon, Helene. ''Colley Cibber: A Biography''. University Press of Kentucky, 2014. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''History of English Drama, 1660–1900, Volume 2''. Cambridge University Press, 2009. 1721 plays West End plays Plays by Colley Cibber Comedy plays Plays based on works by Molière {{play-stub