''The Virgin Prophetess, or The Fate of Troy'' is a 1701

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 ...

Elkanah Settle Elkanah Settle (1 February 1648 – 12 February 1724) was an English poet and playwright. Biography He was born at Dunstable, and entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1666, but left without taking a degree. His first tragedy, '' Cambyses, King ...

featuring music by

Gottfried Finger Gottfried Finger (c. 1655-56 – 31 August 1730), also Godfrey Finger, was a Moravian-German Baroque ''Kapellmeister'' and composer. He was also a virtuoso on the viol, and many of his compositions were for the instrument. He also wrote operas. ...

. It is a

semi-opera The terms "semi-opera", "dramatic opera" and "English opera" were all applied to Restoration literature#Theatre, Restoration entertainments that combined spoken plays with masque-like episodes employing singing and dancing characters. They usua ...

with

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A mas ...

-like elements breaking up the scenes. The original cast 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 Menelaus, Philip Griffin as Ulysses, Thomas Simpson as Neoptolemus,

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 Paris,

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 Helen and Jane Rogers as Cassandra.

References

Bibliography

* Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. 1701 plays West End plays Tragedy plays Plays by Elkanah Settle {{1700s-play-stub