| Pizarro | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Richard Brinsley Sheridan |
| Date premiered | 24 May 1799 |
| Place premiered | Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Tragedy |
| Setting | Peru, Sixteenth century |
Pizarro is a 1799 historical tragedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was inspired by August von Kotzebue's play Die Spanier in Peru, based on the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 by Francisco Pizarro. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 24 May 1799. [1]
The cast included John Philip Kemble as Rolla, William Barrymore as Pizarro, Sarah Siddons as Elvira, Dorothea Jordan as Cora, Charles Kemble as Alonzo, John Powell as Ataliba, Thomas Caulfield as Almagro, Robert Palmer as Valverde, James Aickin as Las Casas, Richard Suett as Diego, William Dowton as Grozembo, William Chatterley as Boy and Charles Holland as Centinel. The music was composed by Michael Kelly. The epilogue was written by William Lamb, the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. [2]
The play was popular success, running for 31 consecutive nights and being revived on a number of occasions. Sheridan's version was produced during the war with France, at a time when an invasion was feared.
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Anglo-Irish playwright, writer and Whig politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1780 to 1812, representing the constituencies of Stafford, Westminster and Ilchester. The owner of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, he wrote several prominent plays such as The Rivals (1775), The Duenna (1775), The School for Scandal (1777) and A Trip to Scarborough (1777), along with serving as Treasurer of the Navy from 1806 to 1807. After dying in 1816, Sheridan was buried at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, and his plays remain a central part of the Western canon and are regularly performed around the world.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1799.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1777.
Charles Kemble was a Welsh-born English actor of a prominent theatre family.
James Sheridan Knowles was an Irish dramatist and actor. A relative of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Knowles enjoyed success writing plays for the leading West End theatres. Later in his career he also produced several novels.
The Rivals is a comedy of manners by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in five acts which was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 17 January 1775. The story has been updated frequently, including a 1935 musical and a 1958 episode of the TV series Maverick starring James Garner and Roger Moore, with attribution.
William Smith, known as "Gentleman Smith", was a celebrated English actor of the 18th century who worked with David Garrick, and was the original creator of the role of Charles Surface in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal.
Vortigern and Rowena, or Vortigern, an Historical Play, is a play that was touted as a newly discovered work by William Shakespeare when it first appeared in 1796. It was eventually revealed to be a Shakespeare hoax, the product of prominent forger William Henry Ireland and part of his wider series of forgeries. Its first performance was on 2 April 1796, when it was ridiculed by the audience. Its titular protagonists, Vortigern and Rowena, are figures from Britain's traditional history.
Events from the year 1777 in Ireland.
The Duenna is a three-act comic opera, mostly composed by Thomas Linley the elder and his son, Thomas Linley the younger, to an English-language libretto by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. At the time, it was considered one of the most successful operas ever staged in England, and its admirers included Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt and George Byron.
The Haymarket Theatre (1796-1803) or Hay-Market Theatre was a theatre in late-18th century Boston, Massachusetts. Organized by Charles Stuart Powell, it occupied a large, wooden building "opposite the Mall on Common Street, near Hatch's Tavern." In addition to dramatic plays, the theatre presented some 62 musical entertainments during its first 5 years. The Haymarket "was seldom used after 1800, and on March 3, 1803, it was offered for sale at auction on the condition that it be removed in 60 days."
John Bannister, , English actor and theatre manager. The principal source for his life are his own Memoirs, and as a leading performer his career is well documented.
James Henry Weldon Morwood was an English classicist and author. He taught at Harrow School, where he was Head of Classics, and at Oxford University, where he was a Fellow of Wadham College, and also Dean. He wrote almost thirty books, ranging from biography to translations and academic studies of Classical literature.
James Aickin, was an Irish stage actor who worked at the Edinburgh Theatre in Scotland and in theatres in the West End of London.
John Langford Pritchard was an English actor, known as ‘Gentleman Pritchard’.
Adelmorn, the Outlaw is an 1801 play by the British writer Matthew Lewis. The overture and incidental music was composed by Michael Kelly. It was first staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The manager Richard Brinsley Sheridan chose the play ahead of the author's historical tragedy Alfonso, King of Castile, because he hoped it would enjoy the same success as his melodramatic hit The Castle Spectre.
William Barrymore (1759–1830) was a British stage actor. Originally from Taunton he was part of a company of strolling players in the West Country, and was acting at Plymouth in 1780. He first appeared at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1782, under the management of Richard Sheridan, and became a long-standing member of the company. He is also the namesake of the famed Barrymore family.
Laurence Clinch (c1740-1812) was an Irish actor, familiarly known as Larry, and accomplished in both tragedy and comedy. The popular farce St Patrick's Day was written and performed to showcase his particular talent.
Montague Talbot (1774–1831) was an Irish stage actor and theatre manager.
Wallace is an 1820 historical tragedy by the British writer Charles Edward Walker. It portrays the Scottish leader William Wallace and the events surrounding his capture and execution, due to the betrayal of John de Menteith. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 14 November 1820. It starred William Macready as Wallace, Charles Kemble as Douglas, Daniel Egerton as Comyn, William Abbot as Montieth, Thomas Comer as Kierly, William Chapman as Clare, Earl of Gloster, Charles Connor as Lord de Clifford and Margaret Agnes Bunn as Helen. It was performed sixteen times. The critic John Waldie, who saw the play in Newcastle four months after its London premiere, compared it to Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1799 hit Pizarro.
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