Robert Baddeley (1733–1794) was an English actor. His parentage is unknown, as is his place of birth, though the latter may have been London. He worked as a cook and valet, and one of his employers was the actor-manager Samuel Foote, who may have inspired him to take to the stage. He spent three years following another employer on a Grand Tour, which helped him to develop the facility with languages and accents which was to be a hallmark of his career.
Charles Kemble was a Welsh actor of a prominent theatre family.
Mary Ann Yates (1728–1787) was an English tragic actress. The daughter of William Graham, a ship's steward and his wife, Mary, she married Richard Yates, a well-known comedian of the time.
John Bell (1745–1831) was an English publisher. Originally a bookseller and printer, he also innovated in typography, commissioning an influential typeface that omitted the long s. He drew the reading public to better literature by ordering attractive art to accompany the printed work.
The Runaway is a 1776 comedy play by the British writer Hannah Cowley. It premiered at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 15 February 1776. The original cast included Richard Yates as Mr Hargrave, William Smith as George Hargrave, Robert Bensley as Mr Drummond, William Brereton as Sir Charles Seymour, James Aickin as Mr Morley, William Parsons as Justice, John Palmer as Jarvis, Charles Bannister as First Hunter, Elizabeth Hopkins as Lady Dinah, Elizabeth Younge as Bella, Priscilla Hopkins as Harriet, Sarah Siddons as Emily and Mary Ann Wrighten as Susan. Cowley dedicated the play to David Garrick, the actor-manager of Drury Lane, who wrote the prologue. The action revolves around a country house in England.
Richard Yates was an English comic actor, who worked at the Haymarket Theatre and Drury Lane among others, appearing in David Garrick's King Lear. He also worked in theatre management, and set up the New Theatre in Birmingham in 1773. Both his first wife, Elizabeth Mary and Mary Anne Graham were actresses.
The Good-Natur'd Man is a 1768 comedy play written by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 29 January 1768. The original cast included Mary Bulkley as Miss Richland, Isabella Mattocks as Olivia, Ann Pitt as Mrs Croaker, Jane Green as Garnet, William Powell as Mr Honeywood, Edward Shuter as Croaker, Henry Woodward as Lofty, Matthew Clarke as Sir William Honeywood, Robert Bensley as Leontine, John Dunstall as Jarvis, John Cushing as Butler and John Quick as Potboy. The prologue was written by Samuel Johnson.
James Aickin, was an Irish stage actor who worked at the Edinburgh Theatre in Scotland and in theatres in the West End of London.
The West Indian is a play by Richard Cumberland first staged at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1771. A comedy, it depicts Belcour, a West Indian plantation owner, travelling to Britain. Belcour tries to overcome his father's lingering disapproval of him and marry his sweetheart Louisa. Its hero, who probably owes much to the suggestion of David Garrick, is a young scapegrace fresh from the tropics, "with rum and sugar enough belonging to him to make all the water in the Thames into punch", a libertine with generous instincts, which prevail in the end. The early example of the modern drama was favorably received. Boden translated it into German, and Goethe acted in it at the Weimar court.
The Jealous Wife is a 1761 British play by George Colman the Elder. A comedy, it was first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre on 12 February 1761 and ran for 19 performances in its first season and 70 by the end of the century. It was translated into French and German.
The Battle of Hastings is a 1778 play by the English writer Richard Cumberland. It is a tragedy set around the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It was staged at the Drury Lane Theatre in October 1778 by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Sheridan later mocked Cumberland's sensitivity to criticism by modelling the character Sir Fretful Plagiary, in his 1779 play The Critic, after him.
The Note of Hand, or Trip to Newmarket is a 1774 comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. A farce it was the final play performed by David Garrick at the Drury Lane Theatre in London before his retirement. The Irish premiere took place at the Capel Street Theatre in Dublin on 10 March 1774. The original London cast included John Palmer as Revell, Samuel Cautherley as Rivers, Thomas Jefferson as Elder Rivers, John Moody as O'Connor MacCormuck, William Palmer as Francis, James William Dodd as Sapling, James Wrighten as Putty and Susan Greville as Mrs Cheveley.
The Oxonian in Town is a 1767 play by George Colman the Elder. It premiered on 7 November 1767 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London and was later published in 1769. The original Covent Garden cast included Henry Woodward as Careless, Robert Bensley as Knowell, John Quick as Post Boy, John Cushing as Waiter and Isabella Mattocks as Lucy. It premiered in Ireland at the Capel Street Theatre in Dublin on 3 March 1774.
Don Pedro is a tragic play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London on 23 July 1796. The original cast included James Aickin as Count Valdesoto, Charles Kemble as Henrique, John Palmer as Pedro De Rascifiria, John Bannister as Basco de Robeldondo, Richard Suett as Nicolas Sassenigo, Thomas Caulfield as Tayo, George Wathen as Roca, Robert Palmer as Cerbero and Elizabeth Kemble as Celestina, Sarah Harlowe as Mariguita, Maria Kemble as Cattania and Elizabeth Hopkins as Benedicta. The epilogue was written by George Colman the Younger.
The Minor is a comedy play by the British playwright Samuel Foote. It originally premiered at Dublin's Crow Street Theatre on 28 January 1760 and was first staged in London at the Haymarket Theatre on 28 July 1760. The play was a satire on George Whitefield.
The Country Attorney is a 1787 comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre on 7 July 1787. The Haymarket cast included Robert Bensley as Sterling, James Aickin as Wordly, Stephen Kemble as Sir Wilful Wayward, Robert Palmer as Lord Millamourm, John Bannister as Jack Volatile and Mary Bulkley as Mrs Worldly, Margaret Cuyler as Mrs Gayless and Elizabeth Farren as Lady Rustic. It was not published during Cumberland's lifetime. The play was reworked and much of it used again by Cumberland for the 1789 play The School for Widows.
Thomas King (1730–1805) was an English actor, known also as a theatre manager and dramatist.
Ways and Means; Or, a Trip to Dover is a 1788 comedy play by the British writer and theatre manager George Colman the Younger. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London with a cast that included John Bannister as Sir David Dunder, John Palmer as Random, James Brown Williamson as Scruple, James Aickin as Old Random, Howard Usher as Paul Peery, Lydia Webb as Lady Dunder and Elizabeth Kemble as Harriet. Its Irish premiere was at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 24 April 1793.
The Dependent is a 1795 comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 20 October 1795. The original cast included Thomas King as Lord Leverington, Richard Suett as Sir Clement Canteser, John Philip Kemble as Edmund D'Alincourt, James Aickin as Carrington, John Bannister as Gabriel Wrinkle, George Wathen as Isaac, John Phillimore as Thomas, Walter Maddocks as Harry, Jane Pope as Mrs Margaret and Elizabeth Farren as Jane.
Joanna of Montfaucon is an 1800 historical play by the British playwright Richard Cumberland. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 16 January 1800 and was inspired by a work by German writer August von Kotzebue. The original cast included Maria Ann Pope as Joanna, Alexander Pope as Albert, Lord of Thurn, Joseph George Holman as Lazarra, Charles Incledon as Darbony, John Waddy as Wensel, Henry Erskine Johnston as Philip, John Emery as Guntram, Charles Murray as Hermit, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Wolf, Thomas King as Ulrick, William Claremont as Mountaineer, Charles Klanert as Soldier and Nannette Johnston as Eloisa.
