Lucius Junius Brutus (play)

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Lucius Junius Brutus
Written by Nathaniel Lee
Date premiered8 December 1680
Place premiered Dorset Garden Theatre, London
Original languageEnglish
Genre Tragedy

Lucius Junius Brutus; Father of his Country is a Restoration tragedy play by Nathaniel Lee from 1680. It depicts the life of Roman statesman Lucius Junius Brutus. [1] It was first staged at the Dorset Garden Theatre by the Duke's Company.

Contents

The original cast included Thomas Betterton as Lucius Junius Brutus, William Smith as Titus, Joseph Williams as Tiberius, John Wiltshire as Collatinus, Thomas Gillow as Valerius, Henry Norris as Horatius, William Fieldhouse and Thomas Percival as Fecilian Priests, James Nokes as Vindicius, Thomas Jevon as Fabritius, Mary Slingsby as Sempronia, Mary Betterton as Lucretia and Elizabeth Barry as Teraminta. [2] It was published the following year by Jacob Tonson, and dedicated to the Earl of Dorset.

Reception

The play became controversial at court and was suppressed after its third performance due to some lines from the character of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (last king of Rome) that were taken to be a reflection on King Charles II. [3]

Legacy

It served as an inspiration for the play The Tragedy of Brutus; or, The Fall of Tarquin by John Howard Payne. [4]

Related Research Articles

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1680.

Nathaniel Lee 17th-century English dramatist

Nathaniel Lee was an English dramatist. He was the son of Dr Richard Lee, a Presbyterian clergyman who was rector of Hatfield and held many preferments under the Commonwealth; Dr Lee was chaplain to George Monck, afterwards Duke of Albemarle, but after the Restoration he conformed to the Church of England, and withdrew his approval for Charles I's execution.

Mary Saunderson 17th-century English actress and singer

Mary Saunderson (1637–1712), later known as Mary Saunderson Betterton after her marriage to Thomas Betterton, was an actress and singer in England during the 1660s and 1690s. She is considered one of the first English actresses.

Dukes Company

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.

Mary, Lady Slingsby, born Aldridge, was an English actress. After a marriage lasting 1670 to 1680 to John Lee, an actor, during which she was on the stage as Mrs. Lee, she was widowed. She then married Sir Charles Slingsby, 2nd Baronet, a nephew of Sir Robert Slingsby, and performed as Lady Slingsby. Theatre historians have pointed out the difficulty in identifying her roles in the period when Elinor Leigh, wife of Anthony Leigh, was performing as Mrs. Leigh, because the homophones "Lee" and "Leigh" were not consistently spelled at the time.

The Patriot, or, The Italian Conspiracy is a 1702 tragedy by the English writer Charles Gildon. Based on the life of Cosimo de' Medici but also inspired by Nathaniel Lee's 1680 work Lucius Junius Brutus set during the Roman Republic.

Joseph Williams was an English stage actor of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century.

Thomas Gillow was an English stage actor of the Restoration era. His name was sometimes written Gilloe or Gillo.

The Princess of Cleve is a 1680 tragedy by the English writer Nathaniel Lee, inspired by the recent French novel La Princesse de Clèves by Madame de La Fayette set during the sixteenth century. It premiered at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London, staged by the Duke's Company. The original cast included Joseph Williams as Prince of Cleve, Thomas Betterton as Duke Nemours, Anthony Leigh as St. Andre, Thomas Gillow as Vidam of Chartres, James Nokes as Poltrot, Elizabeth Barry as Princess of Cleve, Mary Slingsby as Marguerite, Elinor Leigh as Tournon and Mary Betterton as Elianor. Incidental music was composed by Thomas Farmer. The play was not published until 1689.

John Wiltshire was an English stage actor of the Restoration Era. He joined the King's Company in 1675, before transferring to the rival Duke's Company in 1679 possibly as a replacement for Matthew Medbourne who was arrested in the Popish Plot and subsequently died in Newgate. From 1682 until his death he was part of the merged United Company. According to the autobiography of Colley Cibber he subsequently joined the English Army as captain and was killed in action fighting with William III's forces in Flanders during the Nine Years' War. His surname is also sometimes spelled as Wilshire.

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.

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References

  1. Psychological Myth as Tragedy: Nathaniel Lee's "Lucius Junius Brutus". Huntington Library Quarterly
  2. Van Lennep, W. The London Stage, 1660-1800: Volume One, 1660-1700. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960. p.292-293
  3. Terry Trainor. Bedlam. St. Mary of Bethlehem
  4. Tice L. Miller; Entertaining the Nation: American Drama in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries - page: 51