The Maiden Queen

Last updated

Secret Love, or The Maiden Queen is a 1667 tragicomedy written by John Dryden. The play, commonly known by its more distinctive subtitle, was acted by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (which had escaped the Great Fire of London the year before). The premiere occurred on 2 March, and was a popular success. King Charles II, [1] his brother the Duke of York and future King James II, and Samuel Pepys were all in the audience on opening night. [2]

The Maiden Queen was noteworthy as a vehicle for Nell Gwyn, who played the heroine Florimel. Pepys raved about her performance in his Diary "so great performance of a comical part was never, I believe, in the world before...." He returned to see the play eight more times. It was also a special favourite of the King, who reportedly called it "his play."

In addition to Nell Gwyn, the original cast included Nicholas Burt as Lysimantes, Michael Mohun as Philocles, and Charles Hart as Celadon; Anne Marshall as Candiope and her sister Rebecca Marshall as the Queen, Mary Knep as Asteria, and Katherine Corey as Melissa. A later production in 1672 was cast entirely by women. [3] Thomas Killigrew, manager of the King's Company, had developed this practice of all-female casts, starting with a 1664 staging of his own play The Parson's Wedding , as a way to capitalise on the Restoration innovation of actresses on the English stage.

The Maiden Queen was first published in 1668 by Henry Herringman. Another edition followed in 1698.

Dryden composed his play in a mixture of rhymed verse, blank verse, and prose. Gerard Langbaine noted in the 1690s that Dryden drew plot materials from two prose fictions by Madeleine de Scudéry, Le Grand Cyrus (for the main plot) and Ibrahim, ou l'Illustre Bassa (for the subplot). (Dryden returned to Scudéry's Ibrahim for inspiration for another play, An Evening's Love , the following year, 1668 though that venture proved much less successful.) Dryden also borrowed material from Shirley's Love in a Maze . By Dryden's own testimony, the unheroic Philocles was inspired by Magnus de la Garide, the royal favourite of Queen Christina of Sweden.

The drama was revived in an adapted form in 1707; Colley Cibber mixed it with materials from Marriage à la mode . The play remained in the repertory throughout the eighteenth century in various forms; a shortened version called Celadon and Florimel was acted as late as 1796. A London revival of The Maiden Queen occurred in 1886. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Davenant</span> English poet and playwright (1606–1668)

Sir William Davenant, also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil War and during the Interregnum.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1667.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nell Gwyn</span> English royal mistress and celebrity (1650–1687)

Eleanor Gwyn was an English stage actress and celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage, she became best known for being a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset</span> English poet and courtier

Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset and 1st Earl of Middlesex, KG was an English poet and courtier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Killigrew</span> English dramatist and theatre manager (1612–1683)

Thomas Killigrew was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of King Charles II of England.

Charles Hart was a prominent British Restoration actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond</span> Prominent member of the Restoration court

Frances Teresa Stewart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox was a prominent member of the Court of the Restoration and famous for refusing to become a mistress of Charles II of England. For her great beauty she was known as La Belle Stuart and served as the model for an idealised, female Britannia. She is one of the Windsor Beauties painted by Sir Peter Lely.

<i>An Evenings Love</i> Restoration comedy by John Dryden

An Evening's Love, or The Mock Astrologer is a comedy in prose by John Dryden. It was first performed before Charles II and Queen Catherine by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal on Bridges Street, London, on Friday, 12 June 1668. Samuel Pepys saw the play on 20 June of that year, but did not like it; in his Diary he called it "very smutty."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moll Davis</span> English singer, actress and royal mistress

Mary "Moll" Davis, also spelt Davies or Davys, was a courtesan and mistress of King Charles II of England. She was an actress and entertainer before and during her role as royal mistress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Hughes</span> British actress (1630–1719)

Margaret Hughes, also Peg Hughes or Margaret Hewes, was an English actress who is often credited as the first professional actress on the English stage, as a result of her appearance on 8 December 1660. Hughes was the mistress of the English Civil War general Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

Sir Martin Mar-all, or The Feign'd Innocence is an English Restoration comedy, first performed on 15 August 1667. Written by John Dryden and based on a translation of L'Étourdi by Molière, it was one of Dryden's earliest comedies, and also one of the greatest theatrical successes of his career.

The Changes, or Love in a Maze is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy of manners written by James Shirley, first published in 1639. It was one of Shirley's most popular comedies, especially in the Restoration era. The play is almost universally known by its subtitle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke's Company</span>

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 the patronage of Prince James, Duke of York. During that period, theatres began to flourish again after they had been closed from the restrictions throughout the English Civil War and the Interregnum. The Duke's Company existed from 1660 to 1682, when it merged with the King's Company to form the United Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lacy (playwright)</span> 17th-century English comic actor and playwright

John Lacy was an English comic actor and playwright during the Restoration era. In his own time he gained a reputation as "the greatest comedian of his day" and was the favourite comic of King Charles II.

The Great Favourite, or the Duke of Lerma is a stage play written by Sir Robert Howard, a historical drama based on the life of Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma, the favourite of King Philip III of Spain. The play has often been considered Howard's best dramatic work, as well as a step in the development of the heroic drama of the Restoration era.

Mary Knep, also Knepp, Nepp, Knip, or Knipp, was an English actress and one of the first generation of female performers to appear on the public stage during the Restoration era.

The Indian Emperour, or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, being the Sequel of The Indian Queen is an English Restoration era stage play, a heroic drama written by John Dryden that was first performed in the Spring of 1665. The play has been considered a defining work in the subgenre of heroic drama, in which "rhymed heroic tragedy comes into full being." As its subtitle indicates, the play deals with the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés.

Anne Marshall, also Mrs. Anne Quin, was a leading English actress of the Restoration era, one of the first generation of women performers to appear on the public stage in England.

Rebecca Marshall was a noted English actress of the Restoration era, one of the first generation of women performers on the public stage in Britain. She was the younger sister of Anne Marshall, another prominent actress of the period.

Katherine Corey was an English actress of the Restoration era, one of the first generation of female performers to appear on the public stage in Britain. Corey played with the King's Company and the United Company, and had one of the longest careers of any actress in her generation. In "The humble petition of Katherine Corey", she stated that she "was the first and is the last of all the actresses that were constituted by King Charles the Second at His Restauration."

References

  1. Samuel Peply's diary, Samuel Pepys, 2 March 1666, Project Gutenberg, accessed 12 September 2008
  2. George Saintsbury and Sir Walter Scott, eds., The Works of John Dryden, Vol. 2, Edinburgh, William Paterson, 1882; pp. 41416 and ff.
  3. John Downes, Roscius Anglicanus, London, 1706; Montague Summers, ed., London, Fortune Press [no date]; reprinted New York, Benjamin Blom, 1968; p. 100.
  4. Downes, pp. 11112.