False Delicacy is a 1768 comic play by the Irish playwright Hugh Kelly, with some assistance by David Garrick. It premiered at the Drury Lane Theatre on 23 January. [1] The play was a major success for Kelly. It was acted over twenty times during its first season and within a year ten thousand printed copies of it had been sold. [2] It was subsequently translated into German, French and Portuguese. [3]
The original Drury Lane cast included Thomas King as Cecil, Samuel Reddish as Lord Winworth, Charles Holland as Colonel Rivers, John Palmer as Sir Harry Newburgh, Samuel Cautherley as Sidney, Frances Abington as Lady Betty Lambton, Ann Street Barry as Mrs Harley and Sophia Baddeley as Miss Marchont. It was staged at the same time as Oliver Goldsmith's play The Good Natur'd Man was being performed at Covent Garden and the two plays were seen as being in competition. [4]
Lord Windworth and Lady Betty Lambton are in love, but Betty is too shy and delicate to admit it, feeling rejected. Winworth seeks Miss Marchmont, and she only accepts him because she believes that Betty agrees.
Frances "Fanny" Abington was an English actress, known not only for her acting, but for her sense of fashion.
Dorothea Jordan, also known interchangeably as Mrs Jordan and previously Miss Francis or Miss Bland, was an Anglo-Irish actress, courtesan and the mistress and companion of the future King William IV of the United Kingdom for 20 years (1791–1811) while he was Duke of Clarence. Together they had ten illegitimate children, all of whom took the surname FitzClarence.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1747.
Margaret Woffington, known professionally as Peg Woffington, was an Irish actress and socialite of the Georgian era. Peg and Peggy were a common pet name for those called Margaret until the late 20th century.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1693.
Turlough O'Carolan, was a blind Celtic harper, composer and singer in Ireland whose great fame is due to his gift for melodic composition.
Samuel Foote was a British dramatist, actor and theatre manager from Cornwall. He was known for his comedic acting and writing, and for turning the loss of a leg in a riding accident in 1766 to comedic opportunity.
Charlotte Lennox, néeRamsay, was a Scottish novelist, playwright and poet, mostly remembered today as the author of The Female Quixote, and for her association with Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds and Samuel Richardson. However, she had a long career in her own right.
Anne Oldfield was an English actress. She became the theatrical idol of her day. Her exquisite acting and ladylike carriage were the delight of her contemporaries, and her beauty and generosity found innumerable eulogists, as well as sneering detractors.
Hugh Kelly was an Irish dramatist and poet. From the 1760s he was employed as a propagandist for the British government, attacking members of the Opposition. After arriving in London in 1760 to work as a staymaker, he soon turned to become a writer and made a living as a journalist. In 1766 he published Thespis, a long poem about the acting profession, which gained him wide attention. He followed up this success with the novel Memoirs of a Magdalen in 1767. He ultimately became known for his stage plays such as False Delicacy and A Word to the Wise.
Elizabeth Farren was an Irish actress of the late 18th century. Born in Cork in 1759 her father, George Farren was a surgeon. His drinking habits brought on early death and his widow returned to Liverpool. Her mother went on the stage to support herself and her children. Elizabeth first appeared on the London stage in 1777 as Miss Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer and the following year appeared at Drury Lane which, along with the Haymarket Theatre became her primary venues for the rest of her acting career. She had over 100 characters in her repertoire including Shakespeare and various contemporary comedies and dramas. She was often compared to Frances Abington, who was her only real rival. Her last appearance was in April 1797, two months before her marriage to Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby. They had a son and two daughters.
Catherine Clive was a well-known English actress and occasional singer on the stages of London. She created the role of Dalila in Handel's 1743 oratorio Samson. She also did some writing.
John Palmer was an actor on the English stage in the eighteenth century. There was also another John Palmer (1728–1768) who was known as Gentleman Palmer.
The Good-Natur'd Man is a play written by Oliver Goldsmith in 1768. The play was written in the form of a comedy and premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre in 1768, with Mary Bulkley as Miss Richland. It was a middling success for Goldsmith, and the printed version of the play became popular with the reading public. It was released at the same time as Hugh Kelly's False Delicacy, staged at Drury Lane Theatre. The two plays went head to head, with Kelly's proving the more popular.
Elizabeth Rebecca Edwin was an Anglo-Irish stage actress active in Ireland and England during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The Widowed Wife is a 1767 comic play by William Kenrick. It premiered at Drury Lane Theatre on 5 December 1767. It closely resembled the plot of Memoirs of a Magdalen a novel by Hugh Kelly. The play enjoyed a fairly successful run.
Memoirs of a Magdalen is a 1767 British novel by the Irish writer Hugh Kelly. Its full title is Memoirs of a Magdalen, or the History of Louisa Mildmay.
A Word to the Wise is a 1770 comedy play by the Irish writer Hugh Kelly. It was his second work after the 1767 hit False Delicacy. Kelly was known as a supporter of the government, and an opponent of the radical John Wilkes. During the second performance of the play a riot broke out amongst Wilkes' supporters at the Drury Lane Theatre and the play was subsequently withdrawn. When it was published instead Kelly wrote a long introduction defending himself and complaining about political prejudice. It was the first play performed at The Theatre, Leeds when it was opened on 24 May 1771. It was later staged by the American Company in North America.
Charlotte Mardyn was an English actress of Irish descent of the early 19th-century who was rumoured to have been the mistress of Lord Byron.
Samuel Cautherley (c.1747–1805) was a British stage actor. His surname is sometimes spelt as Cautherly.
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