George Colman, known as "the Younger", was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer. He was the son of George Colman the Elder.
Sir Martin Archer Shee was an Irish portrait painter. He also served as the president of the Royal Academy.
The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an incident involving George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era. The incident took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.
John Ramsay Allardyce Nicoll was a British literary scholar and teacher.
John Bannister, , English actor and theatre manager. The principal source for his life are his own Memoirs, and as a leading performer his career is well documented.
The Jubilee is a 1769 play by the British playwright and actor-manager David Garrick, with music by Charles Dibdin. It was based on his Shakespeare Pageant which he had originally planned to stage during the Shakespeare Jubilee in Stratford-upon-Avon until heavy rain forced it to be abandoned. It was first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre on 14 October 1769 and proved a major success, running for ninety performances. This allowed Garrick to recoup much of the money he had spent on the Jubilee celebrations.
The Carmelite is a tragic play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Drury Lane Theatre on 2 December 1784. The play's hero Saint-Valori disguises himself as a Carmelite. The play enjoyed some success, and was later staged a theatre in Belfast where Wolfe Tone saw it in 1791.
Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy is an 1839 historical play by the British writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It portrays the life of the Seventeenth Century French statesman Cardinal Richelieu. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 7 March 1839. The original cast featured William Macready as Richelieu, Edward William Elton as Louis XIII, James Prescott Warde as Baradas, Frederick Vining as Sieur De Beringhen, Samuel Phelps as Joseph, George John Bennett as Huguet, Henry Howe as Francois and Helena Faucit as Julie De Mortemar.
The Fair Circassian is a 1781 tragedy by the British writer Samuel Jackson Pratt. It is an adaptation of the novel Almoran and Hamet by John Hawkesworth. He wrote the lead role for his friend Sarah Siddons, but due to other commitments it ended up being played by Elizabeth Farren.
The Hunchback is an 1832 comedy play by the Irish writer James Sheridan Knowles. Knowles wrote it in the wake of the disastrous reception of his previous comedy The Beggar's Daughter of Bethnal Green in 1828. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London's West End on 5 April 1832. The cast included Sheridan Knowles himself as Master Walter, Fanny Kemble as Julia, Hariette Taylor as Helen, Charles Kemble as Sir Thomas Clifford, Benjamin Wrench as Lord Tinsel, William Abbot as Modus, Drinkwater Meadows as Fathom and William Payne as Stephen. It was Fanny Kemble's last performance in England before embarking on a tour of the United States with her father, where she married and retired from the stage.
The Massacre of Paris is a 1689 tragedy by the English writer Nathaniel Lee. It was first staged by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It is based around the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre which led the killing of many Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion. The events had previously been portrayed in Christopher Marlowe's Elizabethan play The Massacre at Paris.
The Beggar's Daughter of Bethnal Green is a five-act comedy play by the Irish writer James Sheridan Knowles. It was first staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1828 in London. It takes its name from a traditional popular song of the same name. On its opening night the audience began heckling in the second act, and by the third act, their dissatisfaction had become so tumultuous that the stage manager "implored a patient hearing, pledging himself that if the opinion of the audience was so decidedly against the piece at its conclusion, it should be withdrawn". The play was harshly criticised by the press for its weakness, lack of action, thinly sketched characters and lack of originality. In 1834 a revised version entitled The Beggar of Bethnal Green was staged at the Victoria Theatre. The action takes place in London and Romford, then in Essex.
Caius Gracchus is a tragedy by the Irish playwright James Sheridan Knowles. It is based on the life of Gaius Gracchus, a politician in Ancient Rome. The play premiered at the Belfast Theatre in 1815 and enjoyed a good reception. It debuted in London's West End at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 18 November 1823, following the success of the author's Virginius. The London cast included William Macready as Caius Gracchus, William Penley as Licinius, Alexander Pope as Drusus, Daniel Terry as Titus, Charles Mayne Young as Vettius, George Yarnold as Fulvius Flaccus, Thomas Archer as Opimius, Mrs. West as Licinia and Margaret Bunn as Cornelia.
Love is an 1839 play by the Irish writer James Sheridan Knowles. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 4 November 1839 with a cast that included Charles Selby as Prince Frederick, James Vining as Sir Rupert, Alfred Wigan as Sir Conrad, William Payne as Stephen, Ellen Tree as Countess, Emma Brougham as Empress and Lucia Elizabeth Vestris as Catherine. Knowles was paid six hundred pounds for the work by the management of Covent Garden. Mary Shelley praised the play for its "inspiring situations founded on sentiment and passion". It went on to enjoy success in the United States where it became part of the repertoire, being performed at the Broadway Theatre in New York many times in the 1850s. It was celebrated by abolitionists who cheered its anti-slavery theme of a serf falling in love with a countess despite her father's disapproval and the threat of execution.
Old Maids is an 1841 comedy play by the Irish writer James Sheridan Knowles. It was first staged at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 12 October 1841. The cast included John Harley as John Blount, George Vandenhoff as Thomas Blount, Walter Lacy as Robert, Robert William Honner as Harris, William Payne as Stephen, Alfred Wigan as Jacob, Lucia Elizabeth Vestris as Lady Blance and Louisa Nisbett as Lady Anne. It was produced towards the end of the theatrical career of Sheridan Knowles, before he turned to novel-writing.
John Bull is an 1803 comedy play by the British writer George Colman the Younger. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 5 March 1803. The original cast included George Frederick Cooke as Peregrine, Henry Erskine Johnston as Frank Rochdale, Charles Klanert as Williams, John Waddy as Lord Fitz-Balaam, William Thomas Lewis as Honourable Tom Shuffleton, John Henry Johnstone as Dennis Brulgruddery, John Fawcett as Job Thornberry, George Davenport as Mr Pennyman, John Emery as Dan, Nannette Johnston as Lady Caroline Braymore, Mary Ann Davenport as Mrs Bulgruddery and Maria Gibbs as Mary Thornberry. The prologue was written by Thomas Dibdin. Its Irish premiere was at Dublin's Crow Street Theatre on 18 May 1803.
The Poor Gentleman is an 1801 comedy play by the British writer George Colman the Younger. It premiered at London's Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 11 February 1801. The original cast included Charles Murray as Lieutenant Worthington, Thomas Knight as Corporal Foss, Henry Erskine Johnston as Sir Charles Cropland, George Davenport as Warner, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Sir Robert Bramble, William Thomas Lewis as Frederick Bramble, John Waddy as Humphrey Dobbins, John Emery as Stephen Harrowby, John Fawcett as Doctor Ollapod, Maria Gibbs as Emily Worthington and Isabella Mattocks as Lucretia MacTab. It was revived in 1829 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. In 1845 it appeared at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia and the Park Theatre in New York.
The Conquest of Taranto is an 1817 musical drama written by William Dimond with music composed by Michael Kelly. It appeared at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 15 April 1817. The original cast featured Junius Brutus Booth as Rinaldo, William Macready as Valencia, Charles Mayne Young as Aben Hamet, Daniel Egerton as Gonzales, Sarah Booth as Oriana and Kitty Stephens as Rosalind. Macready was reportedly dissatisfied with his role, coveting that of Rinaldo, and unsuccessfully offered thirty pounds the Covent Garden manager Thomas Harris to release him during rehearsals. The first Dublin performance was at the Crow Street Theatre on 5 August 1817. It also appeared at the Federal Street Theatre in Boston and other American venues.
Ben Nazir, the Saracen is an 1827 historical tragedy by the Irish writer Thomas Colley Grattan. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 21 May 1827. The original cast included Edmund Kean as Ben Nazir, Henry John Wallack as Charles Martel, John Cooper as Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, Alexander Pope as Clotaire, Thomas Archer as Mervan, Henry Southwell as Velid, Thomas Comer as Army officer, Benjamin Webster as a Slave, Harriet Smithson as Bathilda and Sarah West as Emerance. Kean was eager for a new play for his relaunch himself on the London stage after being forced to make a tour of America in the wake of the scandal of his affair with Constance Cox. He turned down Alfred the Great by James Sheridan Knowles and selected Ben Nazir, although its reception was disastrous.
Evadne is an 1819 historical tragedy by the Irish writer Richard Lalor Sheil. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 10 February 1819. The original cast included Elizabeth O'Neill as Evadne,William Macready as Ludovico, William Abbot as the King of Naples, Charles Mayne Young as Colonna, Charles Kemble as Vicentio, Charles Connor as Spalatro and Harriet Faucit as Olivia. Sheil dedicated the published play to his fellow Irish writer Thomas Moore.
