Brian Patrick Friel was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. He has been likened to an "Irish Chekhov" and described as "the universally accented voice of Ireland". His plays have been compared favourably to those of contemporaries such as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter and Tennessee Williams.
"Restoration comedy" is English comedy written and performed in the Restoration period of 1660–1710. Comedy of manners is used as a synonym for this. After public stage performances were banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, reopening of the theatres in 1660 marked a renaissance of English drama. Sexually explicit language was encouraged by King Charles II (1660–1685) personally and by the rakish style of his court. Historian George Norman Clark argues:
The best-known fact about the Restoration drama is that it is immoral. The dramatists did not criticize the accepted morality about gambling, drink, love, and pleasure generally, or try, like the dramatists of our own time, to work out their own view of character and conduct. What they did was, according to their respective inclinations, to mock at all restraints. Some were gross, others delicately improper.... The dramatists did not merely say anything they liked: they also intended to glory in it and to shock those who did not like it.
This article is a summary of the major literary events and publications of 1720.
Nahum Tate was an Irish poet, hymnist and lyricist, who became Poet Laureate in 1692. Tate is best known for The History of King Lear, his 1681 adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear.
Thomas Shadwell was an English poet and playwright who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1689.
Charles Shadwell was an English playwright of the 18th century, date of birth unknown, dead in 1726. He was the son of Thomas Shadwell, the playwright and Poet Laureate.
The Restoration spectacular, also known as a machine play, was a type of theatre prevalent in the late 17th-century Restoration period. Spectaculars were elaborately staged, comprising such setups as action, music, dance, moveable scenery, baroque illusionistic painting, costumes, trapdoor tricks, "flying" actors, and fireworks. Although they were popular with contemporary audiences, spectaculars have endured a bad reputation as a vulgar contrast to the witty Restoration drama.
Sir Rory O'Moore, also known Sir Roger O'Moore or O'More or Sir Roger Moore, was an Irish landowner of ancient lineage, and is most notable for being one of the four principal organizers of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
Thomas Jevon (1652–1688) was an English playwright, and one of the first English Harlequins. He began his career as a dancing master, but worked his way onto the stage, and played leading low-comedy parts in London between 1673 and 1688. His brother-in-law was the English playwright and poet laureate Thomas Shadwell.
Sir Robert Howard was an English playwright and politician. He fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.
Sir Arthur Forbes, 1st Baronet of Castle Forbes, County Longford, Ireland took part in the Scottish Plantation of Ireland, and died in a duel at Hamburg, Germany. His son was created Earl of Granard.
Sir Lancelot Shadwell was a barrister at Lincoln's Inn and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Ripon from 1826 to 1827 before becoming Vice-Chancellor of England in 1827. He supported Jewish emancipation.
The Duke's Company was a theatre company chartered by King Charles II at the start of the Restoration era, 1660. Sir William Davenant was manager of the company under Prince James, Duke of York's patronage. During this period, theatres began to flourish again after being closed due to restrictions throughout the English Civil War and Interregnum. The Duke's Company existed from 1660 until 1682 when it merged with the King's Company to form the United Company.
Thomas Duffet, or Duffett, was an Irish playwright and songwriter active in England in the 1670s. He is remembered for his popular songs and his burlesques of the serious plays of John Dryden, Thomas Shadwell, Elkanah Settle, and Sir William Davenant.
Bellamira: or, The Mistress is a comedy by Sir Charles Sedley, published in 1687, partly modelled on Terence's Eunuchus.
Anne Shadwell was an English stage actress of the seventeenth century. She was one of the first English actresses to appear on stage following the Restoration She was one of six actresses recruited in 1660 by William Davenant for the new Duke's Company, acting under her maiden name Anne Gibbs. Sometime between 1663 and 1667 she married the playwright Thomas Shadwell with whom she had four children. While some sources have her acting late into the century, it may be she effectively retired with the formation of the United Company in 1682. Her appearances had decreased since 1672. Following her husband's death in 1692 she was left the bulk of his estate. She had an investment in the Drury Lane Theatre in 1709, when she joined a petition to Queen Anne by the manager Christopher Rich, but nothing is known about her after this point.
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.
Patrick Sarsfield was an Irish landowner and soldier of the seventeenth century noted for his role in the Irish Confederate Wars. He is best known as the father of Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, and is sometimes referred to as Patrick Sarsfield the Elder because of this.
John Corey was an English stage actor and playwright of the eighteenth century. His name is sometime written as John Cory.
Thomas Percival or Percivall was an English stage actor of the seventeenth century. He was a member of the Duke's Company from 1671 to 1682 and then the merged United Company until 1686. Throughout his career he was confined to playing supporting roles, never graduating to major parts. He was the father of the actress Susanna Verbruggen. In 1693, following his retirement from the stage, he was arrested for coin clipping, a capital crime, for which he was sentenced to hang at Tyburn. The intercession of his daughter with Mary II saw his sentence commuted to transportation, but before he reached Portsmouth he died of natural causes.
