George Pack (actor)

Last updated

George Pack (fl. 1700-1724) was a British stage actor, singer and theatre manager of the eighteenth century. [1] [2] His first known performance on the London stage was as Westmoreland in Shakespeare's Henry IV at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre and he remained with the company until it transferred to the Queens's Theatre in the Haymarket in 1705. He played in a mixture of comedies and tragedies, originating roles in plays by many of the leading dramatists of the era including Nicholas Rowe, Mary Pix, John Vanbrugh and Susanna Centlivre.

Contents

In 1708 he joined the Drury Lane company and remained with it until he left to join John Rich's new company at the revived Lincoln's Inn Fields Theare in 1715. His final original role was in The Chimera in 1721. The following year he announced his retirement but came back briefly to appear in a benefit performance for Frances Maria Knight in 1724 and also received his own benefit shortly afterwards. After leaving the stage he took over an inn located on the corner of Haymarket and Pall Mall which he renamed The Busie Body after the play in which he played his best known role of Marplot. His year of death is unknown but occurred some time before 1749.

Selected roles

Related Research Articles

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1700.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1702.

Anne Oldfield English actress

Anne Oldfield was an English actress and one of the highest paid actresses of her time.

Susanna Centlivre English actor and writer c. 1669–1723

Susanna Centlivre, born Susanna Freeman and also known professionally as Susanna Carroll, was an English poet, actress, and "the most successful female playwright of the eighteenth century". Centlivre's "pieces continued to be acted after the theatre managers had forgotten most of her contemporaries." During a long career at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, she became known as the second woman of the English stage, after Aphra Behn.

Barton Booth was one of the most famous dramatic actors of the first part of the 18th century.

This article presents a timeline of events in the history of the United Kingdom from 1700 AD until 1799 AD. For a narrative explaining the overall developments, see the related History of the British Isles.

Mary Kent was an English actress, whose career lasted from 1692 to 1718, and the wife of Drury Lane actor Thomas Kent. Her dates of birth and death are not known. Mary Kent appeared in many playbills from 1692 onwards in London, playing minor parts in the United Company until the company's tumultuous breakup in 1695. She and her husband remained with the depleted parent troupe when the senior actors walked out to set up their own cooperative company, and during the consequent brief actor shortage at Drury Lane, she played more important parts, notably Flareit in Colley Cibber's Love's Last Shift and young Tom Fashion in John Vanbrugh's The Relapse in 1697. This role came at a time when it was common for boys to be portrayed by actresses and her casting was described as perhaps "an attempt to defuse the homosexual suggestions in his relationship with Coupler."

Charlotte Charke

Charlotte Charke was an English actress, playwright, novelist, autobiographer, and noted transvestite. She acted on the stage from the age of 17, mainly in breeches roles, and took to wearing male clothing off the stage. She assumed the name "Charles Brown" and called her daughter "Mrs. Brown." She suffered a series of failures in her business affairs after working in a variety of trades commonly associated with men, from valet, to sausage maker, farmer, pastry chef, and tavern owner, but finally achieved success under her own name as a writer, ending her life as a novelist and memoirist.

Robert Wilks 17th/18th-century English actor and theatre manager

Robert Wilks 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 "triumvirate" of actor-managers that was denounced by Alexander Pope and caricatured by William Hogarth as leaders of the decline in theatrical standards and degradation of the stage's literary tradition.

Lisles Tennis Court

Lisle's Tennis Court was a building off Portugal Street in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. Originally built as a real tennis court, it was used as a playhouse during two periods, 1661–1674 and 1695–1705. During the early period, the theatre was called Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse, also known as The Duke's Playhouse, The New Theatre or The Opera. The building was demolished and replaced by a purpose-built theatre for a third period, 1714–1728. The tennis court theatre was the first public playhouse in London to feature the moveable scenery that would become a standard feature of Restoration theatres.

William Pinkethman

William Pinkethman(also Penkethman, Pinkeman, Pinkerman, etc.; nicknamed Pinkey) (c.1660–1725) was an English comic actor, a low comedian with a droll style, and theatre manager. He was considered an imitator of Anthony Leigh.

The Biter is a 1704 play by the English writer Nicholas Rowe. Rowe was better known for his tragedies but chose to try his hand at comedy. Performed at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, it was not a great success and lasted for about six performances. It was overshadowed by the more popular The Careless Husband by Colley Cibber, which appeared at the Drury Lane Theatre. It was Rowe's only play in a contemporary setting, and he rapidly turned back to historical tragedies beginning with Ulysses (1705). Some sources reported Rowe defiantly and loudly laughing at the jokes during a performance, even while nobody else did.

John Mills (c.1670–1736) was a British stage actor. A long-standing part of the Drury Lane company from 1695 until his death, he appeared in both comedies and tragedies. His wife Margaret Mills was an actress, and his son William Mills also became an actor at Drury Lane.

Benjamin Husband was a British stage actor of the eighteenth century. His surname is sometimes written as Husbands.

John Corey was an English stage actor and playwright of the eighteenth century. His name is sometime written as John Cory.

Elizabeth Willis (c.1669-1739) was a British stage actress.

Mary Willis was a British stage actress of the eighteenth century.

Margaret Mills was a British stage actress of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century.

Elinor Leigh was a British stage actress of the seventeenth century.

References

  1. Caines p.149
  2. Heard p.48

Bibliography