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721:. Middle-aged Pinchwife has married an ignorant young country girl in the hope that she will not know to cuckold him. Horner teaches her, and Margery cuts a swathe through the sophistications of London marriage without even noticing them. She is enthusiastic about the virile handsomeness of town gallants, rakes, and especially theatre actors (such self-referential stage jokes were nourished by the new higher status of actors), and keeps Pinchwife in a state of continual horror with her plain-spokenness and interest in sex. A running joke is the way Pinchwife's
33:
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399:– an actress appearing in male clothes (breeches of tight-fitting knee-length pants, the standard male garment of the time), for instance to play a witty heroine who disguises herself as a boy to hide or to engage in escapades disallowed to girls. A quarter of the plays produced on the London stage between 1660 and 1700 contained breeches roles. Women playing them behaved with the freedom society allowed to men. Some feminist critics such as Jacqueline Pearson saw them as subverting conventional
271:, as has sometimes been supposed, but it was quite small and could barely support two companies. There was no untapped reserve of occasional playgoers. Ten consecutive performances constituted a success. This closed system forced playwrights to respond strongly to popular taste. Fashions in drama would change almost week by week rather than season by season, as each company responded to the offerings of the other, and new plays were urgently sought. In this hectic climate the new
469:. Documents of the period show audiences attracted to performances by the talents of specific actors as much as by specific plays, and more than by authors (who seem to have been the least important draw, no performance being advertised by an author until 1699). Although playhouses were built for large audiences – the second Drury Lane theatre from 1674 held 2000 patrons – they were compact in design and an actor's charisma could be intimately projected from the
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554:(1697) in some detail. The two plays differ in some typical ways, just as a Hollywood movie of the 1950s differs from one of the 1970s. The plays are not, however, offered as "typical" of their decades. Indeed, there exist no typical comedies of the 1670s or the 1690s; even within these two short peak-times, comedy types kept mutating and multiplying.
347:-type attractions – high kickers, jugglers, rope dancers, performing animals – while the co-operating actors, while appealing to snobbery by setting themselves up as the one legitimate theatre company in London, were not above retaliating with "prologues recited by boys of five and epilogues declaimed by ladies on horseback".
1005:
writers
Etherege, Wycherley and Congreve, found it necessary to temper aesthetic praise with heavy moral condemnation. Aphra Behn received the condemnation without the praise, as outspoken sex comedy was seen as particularly offensive from a woman author. At the turn of the 20th century, an embattled
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and empowering female members of the audience. Elizabeth Howe has objected that the male disguise, when studied in relation to play texts, prologues, and epilogues, comes out as "little more than yet another means of displaying the actress as a sexual object" to male patrons, by showing off her body,
711:
is driven by a succession of near-discoveries of the truth about Horner's sexual prowess (and so the truth about the respectable ladies), from which he extricates himself by quick thinking and luck. Horner never reforms, but keeps his secret to the end and is seen to go on merrily reaping the fruits
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trick provides the main plot and the organising principle. The upper-class rake Horner mounts a campaign to seduce as many respectable ladies as possible, first spreading a false rumour of his own impotence, so as to be allowed where no other men might go. The trick is a great success and Horner has
562:
The drama of the 1660s and 1670s was vitalised by the competition between the two patent companies created at the
Restoration, and by the personal interest of Charles II, while comic playwrights arose to the demand for new plays. They stole freely from the contemporary French and Spanish stage, from
545:
in the 1680s can be noted. In the mid-1690s a brief second
Restoration comedy renaissance arose, aimed at a wider audience. The comedies of the golden 1670s and 1690s peak times are extremely different from each other. An attempt is made below to illustrate the generational taste shift by describing
522:
Variety and dizzying fashion changes are typical of
Restoration comedy. Though the "Restoration drama" unit taught to college students is likely to be telescoped in a way that makes the plays all sound contemporary, scholars now have a strong sense of the rapid evolution of English drama over these
796:
Friendall, everybody's friend, whose follies and indiscretions undermine her social worth, as her honour is bound up in his. Mrs
Friendall is pursued by a would-be lover, a matter-of-fact rake devoid of all the qualities that made Etherege's Dorimant charming. She is kept from action and choice by
497:
in 1661, Pepys reports in his diary that the young beginner
Betterton "did the prince's part beyond imagination." Such expressive performances seem to have attracted playgoers as magnetically, as did the novelty of seeing women on the stage. He was soon established as the leading man in the Duke's
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comedies, combining the looted plotlines in adventurous ways. Resulting differences of tone in a single play were appreciated rather than frowned on: audiences prized "variety" within as well as between plays. Early
Restoration audiences had little enthusiasm for structurally simple, well-shaped
330:
The actors gained a Royal "licence to perform", so bypassing Rich's ownership of the original Duke's and King's
Company patents from 1660 and forming their own cooperative company. This venture was set up with detailed rules for avoiding arbitrary managerial authority, regulating the ten actors'
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is tired of matrimony. He comes home drunk every night and is continually rude and insulting to his wife. She is meanwhile tempted to embark on an affair with the witty and faithful
Constant. Divorce is no option for either of the Brutes at this time, but forms of legal separation have recently
781:
reflected mutating cultural perceptions and great social change. The playwrights of the 1690s set out to appeal to more socially mixed audiences with a strong middle-class element, and to female spectators, for instance by moving the war between the sexes from the arena of intrigue into that of
164:
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,
1013:"Critics remain astonishingly defensive about the masterpieces of this period," wrote Robert D. Hume as late as 1976. It is only over the last few decades that the statement has become untrue, with Restoration comedy acknowledged as a rewarding subject for high theory analysis, and Wycherley's
169:
The socially diverse audiences included aristocrats, their servants and hangers-on and a major middle-class segment. They were attracted to the comedies by up-to-the-minute topical writing, crowded and bustling plots, introduction of the first professional actresses, and the rise of the first
315:, "had made a monopoly of the stage, and consequently presum'd they might impose what conditions they pleased upon their people. did not consider that they were all this while endeavouring to enslave a set of actors whom the public were inclined to support." Performers like the legendary
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3. The courtship of Harcourt and Alithea is a comparatively uplifting love story, in which the witty Harcourt wins the hand of Pinchwife's sister Alithea from the hands of the upper-class town snob Sparkish, to whom she was engaged until discovering he loved her only for her money.
387:
Daringly suggestive comedy scenes involving women became especially common, although of course Restoration actresses were, just like male actors, expected to do justice to all kinds and moods of plays. (Their role in the development of Restoration tragedy is also important, compare
946:
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the sexual frankness of Restoration comedy ensured that theatre producers cannibalised it or adapted it with a heavy hand, rather than actually performed it. Today Restoration comedy is again appreciated on stage. The classics – Wycherley's
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sex with many married ladies of virtuous reputation, whose husbands are happy to leave them alone with him. In the famously outrageous "China scene", sexual intercourse is assumed to take place repeatedly just off stage, where Horner and his mistresses carry on a sustained
423:), who had many roles written specially for her in the 1680s and 1690s. Letters and memoirs of the period show men and women in the audience relishing Mountfort's swaggering, roistering impersonations of young women breeched to enjoy the social and sexual freedom of male
812:(1700), the "wit duels" between lovers typical of 1670s comedy are underplayed. The give-and-take set pieces of couples still testing their attraction for each other have mutated into witty prenuptial debates on the eve of marriage, as in the famous "Proviso" scene in
1019:, long branded the most obscene play in the English language, becoming something of an academic favourite. "Minor" comic writers are getting a fair share of attention, especially the post-Aphra Behn generation of women playwrights around the turn of the 18th century:
875:
arisen and would entail separate maintenance for the wife. Such an arrangement would prevent remarriage. Still, muses Lady Brute, in one of many discussions with her niece Bellinda, "These are good times. A woman may have a gallant and a separate maintenance too."
885:
is a talk play, with the focus less on love scenes and more on discussions between friends, female (Lady Brute and Bellinda) and male (Constant and Heartfree). These are full of jokes, but are also thoughtful, with a dimension of melancholy and frustration.
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as well as salaries. This advantage changed when the two companies were amalgamated in 1682, but the way the actors rebelled and took command of a new company in 1695 is in itself an illustration of how far their status and power had developed since 1660.
737:
When the two companies merged in 1682 and the London stage became a monopoly, both the number and the variety of new plays dropped sharply. There was a swing away from comedy to serious political drama, reflecting preoccupations and divisions after the
898:
The tolerance for Restoration comedy even in its modified form was running out by the end of the 17th century, as public opinion turned to respectability and seriousness faster than playwrights did. Interconnected causes for this shift in taste were
165:
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.
933:, Congreve's first comedy for five years, the audience showed only moderate enthusiasm for that subtle and almost melancholy work. The comedy of sex and wit was about to be replaced by the drama of obvious sentiment and exemplary morality.
342:
London again had two competing companies. Their dash to attract audiences briefly revitalised Restoration drama, but also set it on a fatal slope to the lowest common denominator of public taste. Rich's company notoriously offered
1790:
The London Stage 1660–1800: A Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces Together with Casts, Box-Receipts and Contemporary Comment Compiled From the Playbills, Newspapers and Theatrical Diaries of the Period, Part 1:
648:, was highly regarded for uncompromising satire and earned Wycherley the appellation "Plain Dealer" Wycherley or "Manly" Wycherley, after the play's main character Manly. The single play that does most to support the charge of
632:(1676) as a riotous, witty, intellectual, sexually irresistible aristocrat, a template for posterity's idea of the glamorous Restoration rake (actually never a very common character in Restoration comedy). Wycherley's
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Bellinda is meanwhile grumpily courted by Constant's friend Heartfree, who is surprised and dismayed to find himself in love with her. The bad example of the Brutes is a constant warning to Heartfree not to marry.
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After a forged-letter complication, the play ends with marriage between Heartfree and Bellinda and stalemate between the Brutes. Constant continues to pay court to Lady Brute, and she continues to shilly-shally.
303:, who tried to finance a tangle of "farmed" shares and sleeping partners by slashing salaries and dangerously by abolishing traditional perks of senior performers, who were stars with the clout to fight back.
379:
and the predominantly male audiences of the 1660s and 1670s were curious, censorious and delighted at the novelty of seeing real women engage in risqué repartee and take part in physical seduction scenes.
862:
in its attention to the subordinate legal position of married women and the complexities of "divorce" and separation, issues that had been highlighted in the mid-1690s by some notorious cases before the
599:.) Such incongruities contributed to the low esteem held by Restoration comedy in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, whereas today such total theatre experience is again valued on the stage and by
514:
day-to-day leader. He remained loyal to Rich longer than many of his co-workers, but eventually it was he who headed an actors' walkout in 1695 and became the acting manager of the new company.
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shares, setting the conditions of salaried employees and the sickness and retirement benefits of both categories. The cooperative had the good luck to open in 1695 with the première of
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below). The influence and incomes of actors dropped too. In the late 1680s, predatory investors ("adventurers") converged on the United Company. Management was taken over by the lawyer
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1035:. A broad study of most never-reprinted Restoration comedies has been made possible by internet access (by subscription only) to the first editions at the
587:. They demanded bustling, crowded multi-plot action and fast pace. Even a splash of high heroic drama might be thrown in to enrich the comedy mix, as in
1526:
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the unattractiveness of all her options. The humour of this "comedy" is in the subsidiary love-chase and fornication plots, none in the main plot.
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Both the quantity and quality of drama suffered in 1682 when the more successful Duke's Company absorbed the struggling King's Company to form the
484:
The greatest fixed stars among Restoration actors were Elizabeth Barry ("Famous Mrs Barry" who "forc 'd Tears from the Eyes of her Auditory") and
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refers many times in his diary to visiting the playhouse to watch or re-watch performances by particular actresses and to his enjoyment of these.
62:
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595:(1664), which has one heroic verse "conflict between love and friendship" plot, one urbane wit comedy plot, and one burlesque pantsing plot. (
253:, both optimally providing music and dancing, and both fitted with moveable scenery and elaborate machines for thunder, lightning, and waves.
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1981:
510:(1676). Betterton's position remained unassailed through the 1680s, both as leading man of the United Company and as its stage manager and
209:
Charles II was an active and interested patron of drama. Soon after his restoration in 1660 he granted exclusive staging rights, so-called
782:
marriage. The focus in comedy is less on young lovers outwitting the older generation, more on marital relations after the wedding bells.
997:
Distaste for sexual impropriety long kept Restoration comedy off the stage, locked in a critical poison cupboard. Victorian critics like
523:
40 years and its social and political causes. The influence of theatre-company competition and playhouse economics is also acknowledged.
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With two companies competing for their services from 1660 to 1682, star actors could negotiate star deals, comprising company shares and
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and Caroline plays, as the first necessity for economic survival before any new plays existed. Their next priority was to build splendid
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674:: "O Lord, I'll have some china too. Good Master Horner, don't think to give other people china, and me none. Come in with me too."
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in 1698, he was confirming a shift in audience taste that had taken place. At the much-anticipated all-star première in 1700 of
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249:, respectively. Striving to outdo each other, Killigrew and Davenant ended with quite similar theatres, both designed by
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at the front which allowed intimate audience contact is not visible in the picture (the artist is standing on it).
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Restoration comedy peaked twice. The genre came to marked maturity in the mid-1670s with an extravaganza of
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765:. Behn's achievement as an early professional woman writer has been the subject of much recent study.
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Male and female actors on the London stage in the Restoration period became for the first time public
125:, musicians and well-bred ladies surround a man who is wearing a tub because he has lost his trousers.
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The Restoration Rake-Hero: Transformations in Sexual Understanding in Seventeenth-Century England
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Betterton played every great male part there was from 1660 into the 18th century. After watching
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is used as a synonym for this. After public stage performances were banned for 18 years by the
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always leads him into supplying Margery with the very information he wishes her not to have.
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Two-Edg'd Weapons: Style and Ideology in the Comedies of Etherege, Wycherley, and Congreve
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minority of academic Restoration comedy enthusiasts began to appear, such as the editor
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Restoration comedy was strongly influenced by the first professional actresses. Before
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has three interlinked but distinct plots, which each project sharply different moods:
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comedies. Twenty lean years followed this short golden age, though the achievement of
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The sumptuously decorated Dorset Gardens playhouse in 1673, with one of the sets for
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During a second wave of Restoration comedy in the 1690s, the "softer" comedies of
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reflected the atmosphere at Court. They celebrated with frankness an aristocratic
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The Restoration dramatists renounced the tradition of satire recently embodied by
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The First Modern Comedies: The Significance of Etherege, Wycherley and Congreve
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915:'s dislike of the theatre, and the lawsuits brought against playwrights by the
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celebrity actors. The period saw the first professional female playwright,
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985:. Aphra Behn, once considered unstageable, has had a renaissance, with
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746:(1682). The few comedies produced tended to be political in focus, the
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156:(1660–1685) personally and by the rakish style of his court. Historian
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Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln's Inn Fields 1695–1708
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Refinement meets burlesque in Restoration comedy. In this scene from
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The Prostituted Muse: Images of Women and Women Dramatists 1642–1737
792:(1691) is not yet "soft": it shows a woman miserably married to the
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levelled then and now at Restoration comedy is probably Wycherley's
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had the audience on their side, and confident of this walked out.
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regime, reopening of the theatres in 1660 marked a renaissance of
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Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage
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1769:
The Female Wits – Women Playwrights on the London Stage 1660–1720
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Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage
826:, with a lighter touch and more humanly recognisable characters.
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The audience of the early Restoration period was not exclusively
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1891:
Links to e-texts of restorations Plays, Univ. of Oldenburg, 2007
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The Development of English Drama in the Late Seventeenth Century
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2. The married life of Pinchwife and Margery draws on Molière's
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Successful Restoration actresses included Charles II's mistress
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Wycherley's Drama: A Link in the Development of English Satire.
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that accepted the social code of the upper class uncritically.
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was one of the first actresses and the mistress of Charles II.
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1939:. Use with caution, this is an abridged and bowdlerised text.
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Tricksters and Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy
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1001:, though valuing the linguistic energy and "strength" of the
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A speciality introduced almost as early as actresses was the
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of his planted misinformation past the last act and beyond.
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The company owners, wrote the young United Company employee
100:"Restoration theatre" redirects here. For other genres, see
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lifestyle of unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. The
1793:. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press
1764:. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press
404:
normally hidden by a skirt, outlined by the male outfit."
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1810:. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky
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Company, and played Dorimant, the seminal irresistible
182:
1748:
The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 1660–1700
1824:. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press
339:
and the skill to make it a huge box-office success.
97:
Theatrical genre rooted in late 17th-century England
557:
306:
283:and Restoration comedy were born and flourished.
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152:. Sexually explicit language was encouraged by
54:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
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822:(1697) follows in the footsteps of Southerne's
732:
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1975:
707:purportedly about Horner's china collection.
967:– have competition not only from Vanbrugh's
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1730:Colley Cibber, first published 1740, 1976,
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533:was the favourite comic of King Charles II.
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1982:
1968:
1592:British dramatists from Dryden to Sheridan
975:, but from such dark, unfunny comedies as
453:Betterton's acting won praise from Pepys,
430:
85:Learn how and when to remove this message
1864:. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press
1743:, vol. 1. Bloomsbury: The Nonesuch Press
1733:An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber
1046:
837:
660:
606:The unsentimental or "hard" comedies of
525:
434:
359:
186:
112:
1817:. Princeton: Princeton University Press
1750:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
1741:The Complete Works of Sir John Vanbrugh
1126:George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
14:
3812:
1989:
923:attacked Congreve and Vanbrugh in his
917:Society for the Reformation of Manners
3661:
2765:
1963:
1739:Bonamy Dobrée, 1927, Introduction to
1716:Antitheatricality#Restoration theatre
992:
375:, all female roles had been taken by
638:(1676), a variation on the theme of
442:played the irresistible Dorimant in
183:Original patent companies, 1660–1682
177:
26:
1802:Selected seminal critical studies:
1540:
24:
2647:John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
1797:
1783:Road to Divorce: England 1530–1987
355:
25:
3851:
1878:
1785:. Oxford: Oxford University Press
3641:
3632:
3631:
2105:
1874:New Haven: Yale University Press
941:
893:
31:
1850:. Oxford : Clarendon Press
1788:William Van Lennep, ed., 1965,
1736:. London: J. M. Dent & Sons
1708:
1699:
1690:
1681:
1589:George Henry Nettleton, Arthur
1778:. New York: St. Martin's Press
1672:
1663:
1654:
1645:
1624:
1611:
1598:
1583:
1551:, starring Helen Mirren (1977)
858:is something of a Restoration
558:Aristocratic comedy, 1660–1680
323:and the rising young comedian
307:War of the theatres, 1695–1700
13:
1:
1815:The Restoration Comedy of Wit
1724:
1060:is now a repertory favourite.
769:Comedy renaissance, 1690–1700
136:written and performed in the
2134:The Adventures of Five Hours
2126:The Cutter of Coleman Street
1953:The Gentleman Dancing-Master
1619:The Later Stuarts, 1660-1714
1043:List of Restoration comedies
733:Decline of comedy, 1678–1690
679:Example. William Wycherley,
7:
1832:. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
1555:
1119:Bellamira: or, The Mistress
989:now a repertory favourite.
597:See illustration, top right
517:
373:the closing of the theatres
260:, devoting themselves to a
10:
3856:
3689:History of Western theatre
2791:
2446:The Marriage-Hater Matched
1956:(archived 4 December 2004)
1930:(archived 31 October 2000)
1820:Norman N. Holland, 1959),
1813:Thomas H. Fujimura, 1952,
1774:Jacqueline Pearson, 1988,
1389:The Marriage-Hater Matched
1299:The Counterfeit Bridegroom
583:comedies such as those of
99:
3695:
3627:
3492:
3400:
3306:
3171:
3089:
3053:
3046:
3037:
2940:
2909:
2900:
2799:
2734:Restoration of Charles II
2655:
2604:
2576:
2114:
2103:
1997:
1757:. Oxford: Clarendon Press
1562:Essay of Dramatick Poesie
419:, and Susanna Mountfort (
350:
287:United Company, 1682–1695
221:, led by two middle-aged
1887:(archived 11 March 2007)
1853:Montague Summers, 1935,
1830:English Drama, 1660–1700
1806:Douglas Canfield, 1997,
1577:
937:After Restoration comedy
919:(founded in 1692). When
830:Example. John Vanbrugh,
40:This article includes a
3081:Theatre of ancient Rome
2350:A Commonwealth of Women
1371:A Commonwealth of Women
106:Restoration spectacular
69:more precise citations.
2739:Second Anglo-Dutch War
2558:The Recruiting Officer
2158:She Would If She Could
1885:Restoration playhouses
1846:Robert Markley, 1988,
1828:Hughes, Derek (1996).
1781:Lawrence Stone, 1990,
1767:Fidelis Morgan, 1981,
1760:Judith Milhous, 1979,
1753:Robert D. Hume, 1976,
1746:Elizabeth Howe, 1992,
1503:The Recruiting Officer
1431:The Maid's Last Prayer
1077:She Would If She Could
1061:
852:
675:
534:
462:
431:First celebrity actors
368:
206:
198:The Empress of Morocco
167:
126:
3835:Literature of England
3288:Theatre of the Absurd
2462:The Canterbury Guests
2382:The Squire of Alsatia
2270:Friendship in Fashion
1896:17th Century Database
1407:Friendship in Fashion
1233:The Canterbury Guests
1191:The Squire of Alsatia
1050:
841:
723:pathological jealousy
664:
571:plays, and even from
529:
502:, at the première of
438:
363:
190:
162:
140:period of 1660–1710.
116:
3263:Shakespearean comedy
3061:Ancient Greek comedy
2724:Lincoln's Inn Fields
2566:The Beaux' Stratagem
2550:The Careless Husband
2526:The Way of the World
1919:The Way of the World
1860:Harold Weber, 1986,
1857:. London: Kegan Paul
1567:John Rich (producer)
1521:The Perjured Husband
1509:The Beaux' Stratagem
1455:The Way of the World
965:The Way of the World
931:The Way of the World
814:The Way of the World
809:The Way of the World
18:Restoration comedies
3722:English Renaissance
2518:The Constant Couple
2398:The Fortune Hunters
2374:A Fool's Preferment
2310:The London Cuckolds
2150:The Mulberry-Garden
2142:The Comical Revenge
1951:William Wycherley,
1943:William Wycherley,
1696:Milhous, pp. 52–55.
1687:Milhous, pp. 68–74.
1669:Milhous, pp. 51–55.
1491:The Constant Couple
1377:A Fool's Preferment
1221:The London Cuckolds
1215:The Careless Lovers
1113:The Mulberry-Garden
1071:The Comical Revenge
905:Glorious Revolution
816:(1700). Vanbrugh's
158:George Norman Clark
3820:Restoration comedy
3727:Spanish Golden Age
3716:Commedia dell'arte
3251:Comédie larmoyante
3246:Sentimental comedy
3241:Restoration comedy
3204:Commedia dell'arte
3076:Corral de comedias
2206:Marriage Ă la mode
2174:Sir Solomon Single
1991:Restoration comedy
1917:William Congreve,
1909:William Congreve,
1855:Playhouse of Pepys
1210:Edward Ravenscroft
1101:Marriage a la Mode
1062:
993:Literary criticism
870:Sir John Brute in
853:
754:sparring with the
676:
603:academic critics.
535:
463:
421:Susanna Verbruggen
411:, the tragedienne
369:
319:, the tragedienne
207:
130:Restoration comedy
127:
42:list of references
3807:
3806:
3655:
3654:
3433:Musical comedians
3396:
3395:
3194:Comedy of manners
3189:Comedy of humours
3179:Boulevard theatre
3167:
3166:
3071:Comédie-Italienne
3066:Comédie-Française
3033:
3032:
2759:
2758:
2673:Comedy of manners
2534:Sir Harry Wildair
2510:Love and a Bottle
2486:Love's Last Shift
2406:The English Friar
2318:Sir Barnaby Whigg
2302:The Woman Captain
2166:An Evening's Love
2097:William Wycherley
2012:Susanna Centlivre
1936:The Provoked Wife
1925:George Etherege,
1839:978-0-19-811974-6
1606:Antitheatricality
1572:Restoration style
1516:Susanna Centlivre
1497:Sir Harry Wildair
1485:Love and a Bottle
1473:The Provoked Wife
1359:Sir Barnaby Whigg
1353:The Virtuous Wife
1263:The English Friar
1185:The Woman Captain
1138:William Wycherley
1095:An Evening's Love
1033:Susanna Centlivre
1029:Catharine Trotter
1021:Delarivier Manley
973:The Provoked Wife
959:, and Congreve's
883:The Provoked Wife
872:The Provoked Wife
856:The Provoked Wife
848:The Provoked Wife
832:The Provoked Wife
819:The Provoked Wife
789:The Wives' Excuse
666:William Wycherley
624:Earl of Rochester
612:William Wycherley
552:The Provoked Wife
425:Restoration rakes
297:Decline of comedy
262:comedy of manners
178:Theatre companies
142:Comedy of manners
95:
94:
87:
16:(Redirected from
3847:
3682:
3675:
3668:
3659:
3658:
3645:
3635:
3634:
3582:Self-referential
3199:Comedy of menace
3051:
3050:
3044:
3043:
2907:
2906:
2786:
2779:
2772:
2763:
2762:
2668:Chocolate houses
2656:Related articles
2637:James II and VII
2470:The Married Beau
2430:The Wives Excuse
2414:Sir Anthony Love
2358:Sir Courtly Nice
2238:The Plain-Dealer
2222:Love in the Dark
2214:The Country Wife
2109:
2077:Thomas Southerne
2022:William Congreve
1984:
1977:
1970:
1961:
1960:
1945:The Country Wife
1843:
1771:. London: Virago
1719:
1712:
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1694:
1688:
1685:
1679:
1676:
1670:
1667:
1661:
1658:
1652:
1649:
1643:
1641:pp. 194 and 189.
1637:
1631:
1628:
1622:
1615:
1609:
1602:
1596:
1587:
1548:The Country Wife
1541:Film adaptations
1527:The Basset-Table
1443:The Old Bachelor
1438:William Congreve
1425:The Wives Excuse
1419:Sir Anthony Love
1414:Thomas Southerne
1329:The Lucky Chance
1323:The City Heiress
1269:The Married Beau
1257:Sir Courtly Nice
1155:The Plain Dealer
1149:The Country Wife
1016:The Country Wife
1008:Montague Summers
982:The Wives Excuse
977:Thomas Southerne
953:The Plain-Dealer
949:The Country Wife
784:Thomas Southerne
775:William Congreve
744:Exclusion Crisis
718:School for Wives
709:The Country Wife
689:The Country Wife
681:The Country Wife
671:The Country Wife
655:The Country Wife
635:The Plain Dealer
548:The Country Wife
500:Restoration rake
486:Thomas Betterton
440:Thomas Betterton
417:Anne Bracegirdle
345:Bartholomew Fair
333:William Congreve
325:Anne Bracegirdle
317:Thomas Betterton
301:Christopher Rich
251:Christopher Wren
231:William Davenant
227:Thomas Killigrew
90:
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76:
70:
65:this article by
56:inline citations
35:
34:
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3840:The Restoration
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3470:Animated sitcom
3392:
3358:Musical theatre
3308:
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3278:Stand-up comedy
3224:One-person show
3214:Improvisational
3163:
3085:
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2983:Science fiction
2936:
2896:
2817:Comedy festival
2795:
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2755:
2651:
2627:Marquis de Sade
2600:
2572:
2542:The Lying Lover
2502:The Campaigners
2334:City Politiques
2286:Tunbridge Wells
2246:The Man of Mode
2230:The Country Wit
2110:
2101:
2092:George Villiers
2072:Thomas Shadwell
2042:George Farquhar
2037:George Etherege
1993:
1988:
1934:John Vanbrugh,
1927:The Man of Mode
1881:
1840:
1827:
1800:
1798:Further reading
1727:
1722:
1713:
1709:
1704:
1700:
1695:
1691:
1686:
1682:
1678:Milhous, p. 66.
1677:
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1664:
1660:Milhous, 38–48.
1659:
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1639:Hodgart (2009)
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1480:George Farquhar
1395:The Campaigners
1287:Tunbridge Wells
1251:City Politiques
1245:The Country Wit
1162:Thomas Shadwell
1083:The Man of Mode
1066:George Etherege
1045:
1037:British Library
999:William Hazlitt
995:
957:The Man of Mode
944:
939:
896:
836:
771:
752:Thomas Shadwell
735:
702:double entendre
685:
629:The Man of Mode
616:George Etherege
589:George Etherege
560:
520:
504:George Etherege
444:George Etherege
433:
413:Elizabeth Barry
358:
356:First actresses
353:
321:Elizabeth Barry
309:
289:
239:patent theatres
193:Elkannah Settle
185:
180:
154:King Charles II
119:George Etherege
109:
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46:related reading
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3333:
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2605:Related people
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2454:The Volunteers
2450:
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2438:Greenwich Park
2434:
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2422:Love for Money
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2278:Squire Oldsapp
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2262:A Fond Husband
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2182:Love in a Wood
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2067:Charles Sedley
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2032:Thomas D'Urfey
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1341:A Fond Husband
1336:Thomas D'Urfey
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1276:Thomas Rawlins
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3410:
3409:
3406:
3405:
3403:
3399:
3389:
3386:
3384:
3381:
3379:
3378:Opéra comique
3376:
3374:
3371:
3369:
3368:Opéra bouffon
3366:
3364:
3361:
3359:
3356:
3354:
3351:
3349:
3346:
3344:
3341:
3339:
3336:
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3329:
3327:
3326:Café-chantant
3324:
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3317:
3314:
3313:
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3305:
3299:
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3294:
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3271:
3269:
3268:Sketch comedy
3266:
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3259:
3256:
3252:
3249:
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2853:
2852:Impressionist
2850:
2848:
2845:
2843:
2840:
2838:
2835:
2833:
2830:
2828:
2825:
2823:
2822:Comedy troupe
2820:
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2808:
2805:
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2798:
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2725:
2722:
2720:
2717:
2715:
2713:
2712:The Libertine
2709:
2707:
2705:
2704:The Libertine
2701:
2699:
2696:
2694:
2691:
2689:
2686:
2684:
2683:Dorset Garden
2681:
2679:
2676:
2674:
2671:
2669:
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2664:
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2660:
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2654:
2648:
2645:
2643:
2640:
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2628:
2625:
2623:
2622:Thomas Hobbes
2620:
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2609:
2607:
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2507:
2504:
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2499:
2496:
2495:
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2488:
2487:
2483:
2480:
2479:
2478:Love for Love
2475:
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2219:
2216:
2215:
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2208:
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2200:
2199:
2195:
2192:
2191:
2190:The Rehearsal
2187:
2184:
2183:
2179:
2176:
2175:
2171:
2168:
2167:
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2160:
2159:
2155:
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2147:
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2143:
2139:
2136:
2135:
2131:
2128:
2127:
2123:
2122:
2120:
2118:
2113:
2108:
2098:
2095:
2093:
2090:
2088:
2087:John Vanbrugh
2085:
2083:
2080:
2078:
2075:
2073:
2070:
2068:
2065:
2063:
2060:
2058:
2057:Robert Howard
2055:
2053:
2050:
2048:
2047:Edward Howard
2045:
2043:
2040:
2038:
2035:
2033:
2030:
2028:
2025:
2023:
2020:
2018:
2017:Colley Cibber
2015:
2013:
2010:
2008:
2005:
2004:
2002:
2000:
1996:
1992:
1985:
1980:
1978:
1973:
1971:
1966:
1965:
1962:
1955:
1954:
1949:
1947:
1946:
1941:
1938:
1937:
1932:
1929:
1928:
1923:
1921:
1920:
1915:
1913:
1912:
1911:Love For Love
1907:
1905:
1904:
1899:
1897:
1894:
1892:
1889:
1886:
1883:
1882:
1873:
1869:
1868:Rose Zimbardo
1866:
1863:
1859:
1856:
1852:
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1845:
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1835:
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1734:
1729:
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1711:
1702:
1693:
1684:
1675:
1666:
1657:
1651:Hume, 17, 23.
1648:
1642:
1636:
1627:
1621:(1956) p 369.
1620:
1614:
1607:
1601:
1594:
1593:
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1563:
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1487:
1486:
1481:
1478:
1475:
1474:
1469:
1468:
1463:
1462:John Vanbrugh
1460:
1457:
1456:
1451:
1450:
1449:Love For Love
1445:
1444:
1439:
1436:
1433:
1432:
1427:
1426:
1421:
1420:
1415:
1412:
1409:
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1238:
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1234:
1229:
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1223:
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1217:
1216:
1211:
1208:
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1199:
1198:
1193:
1192:
1187:
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1181:
1180:
1175:
1174:
1169:
1168:
1163:
1160:
1157:
1156:
1151:
1150:
1145:
1144:
1139:
1136:
1133:
1132:
1131:The Rehearsal
1127:
1124:
1121:
1120:
1115:
1114:
1109:
1106:
1103:
1102:
1097:
1096:
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1011:
1009:
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1000:
990:
988:
984:
983:
978:
974:
970:
966:
962:
961:Love For Love
958:
955:, Etherege's
954:
950:
942:Stage history
934:
932:
928:
927:
922:
918:
914:
910:
906:
902:
894:End of comedy
891:
887:
884:
880:
876:
873:
868:
867:(see Stone).
866:
861:
857:
850:
849:
844:
843:John Vanbrugh
840:
833:
827:
825:
824:Wives' Excuse
821:
820:
815:
811:
810:
805:
804:
803:Love for Love
798:
795:
791:
790:
785:
780:
779:John Vanbrugh
776:
766:
764:
760:
757:
753:
749:
745:
741:
730:
726:
724:
720:
719:
713:
710:
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698:
693:
691:
690:
682:
673:
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663:
659:
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647:
646:
641:
637:
636:
631:
630:
625:
621:
617:
613:
609:
604:
602:
598:
594:
593:Love in a Tub
590:
586:
581:
578:
574:
570:
566:
555:
553:
549:
544:
540:
532:
528:
524:
515:
513:
509:
505:
501:
496:
495:
489:
487:
482:
479:
474:
472:
468:
460:
459:Colley Cibber
456:
452:
450:
445:
441:
437:
428:
426:
422:
418:
414:
410:
405:
402:
398:
397:breeches role
393:
391:
385:
383:
378:
374:
366:
362:
348:
346:
340:
338:
337:Love For Love
334:
328:
326:
322:
318:
314:
313:Colley Cibber
304:
302:
298:
294:
284:
282:
278:
274:
270:
265:
263:
259:
254:
252:
248:
244:
240:
236:
232:
228:
225:playwrights,
224:
220:
216:
212:
211:Royal patents
204:
200:
199:
194:
189:
175:
173:
166:
161:
159:
155:
151:
150:English drama
147:
143:
139:
135:
131:
124:
123:Love in a Tub
120:
115:
111:
107:
103:
89:
86:
78:
75:February 2024
68:
64:
58:
57:
51:
47:
43:
38:
29:
28:
19:
3792:20th century
3767:19th century
3741:
3737:Neoclassical
3714:
3475:Black sitcom
3455:Mockumentary
3363:Opéra bouffe
3331:Café-théâtre
3316:Ballad opera
3240:
3234:Harlequinade
3184:Comedy-drama
2963:Mockumentary
2847:Impersonator
2827:Comic timing
2743:
2711:
2703:
2693:Fleet Prison
2564:
2556:
2548:
2540:
2532:
2524:
2516:
2508:
2500:
2492:
2484:
2476:
2468:
2460:
2452:
2444:
2436:
2428:
2420:
2412:
2404:
2396:
2388:
2380:
2372:
2364:
2356:
2348:
2340:
2332:
2326:The Royalist
2324:
2316:
2308:
2300:
2294:A True Widow
2292:
2284:
2276:
2268:
2260:
2252:
2244:
2236:
2228:
2220:
2212:
2204:
2196:
2188:
2180:
2172:
2164:
2156:
2148:
2140:
2132:
2124:
2062:Thomas Otway
2052:James Howard
1990:
1952:
1944:
1935:
1926:
1918:
1910:
1902:
1901:Aphra Behn,
1871:
1861:
1854:
1847:
1829:
1821:
1814:
1807:
1801:
1789:
1782:
1775:
1768:
1761:
1754:
1747:
1740:
1731:
1710:
1705:Dobrée, xxi.
1701:
1692:
1683:
1674:
1665:
1656:
1647:
1635:
1630:Hume, 19–21.
1626:
1618:
1613:
1600:
1591:
1585:
1546:
1531:
1525:
1519:
1507:
1501:
1495:
1489:
1483:
1471:
1465:
1453:
1447:
1441:
1429:
1423:
1417:
1405:
1402:Thomas Otway
1393:
1387:
1381:
1375:
1369:
1365:The Royalist
1363:
1357:
1351:
1345:
1339:
1327:
1321:
1315:
1309:
1303:
1297:
1285:
1279:
1267:
1261:
1255:
1249:
1243:
1231:
1225:
1219:
1213:
1201:
1195:
1189:
1183:
1179:A True Widow
1177:
1173:The Virtuoso
1171:
1165:
1153:
1147:
1141:
1129:
1117:
1111:
1099:
1093:
1081:
1075:
1069:
1051:
1014:
1012:
996:
986:
980:
972:
968:
964:
960:
956:
952:
948:
945:
930:
924:
903:change, the
897:
888:
882:
881:
877:
871:
869:
860:problem play
855:
854:
846:
831:
823:
817:
813:
807:
801:
799:
787:
772:
736:
727:
716:
714:
708:
695:1. Horner's
694:
687:
686:
680:
669:
653:
643:
633:
627:
605:
596:
592:
561:
551:
547:
539:aristocratic
536:
521:
511:
507:
492:
490:
483:
475:
471:thrust stage
464:
447:
406:
401:gender roles
394:
386:
382:Samuel Pepys
370:
341:
336:
329:
310:
292:
290:
277:heroic drama
266:
255:
208:
196:
168:
163:
129:
128:
122:
110:
102:Heroic drama
81:
72:
61:Please help
53:
3757:Romanticism
3742:Restoration
3543:Documentary
3539:(dry humor)
3502:Alternative
3480:Teen sitcom
3373:Opera buffa
3348:Light music
3343:Comedy club
3293:Tragicomedy
3258:Shadow play
2719:Libertinism
2642:Georg Monck
2494:The Relapse
2342:Dame Dobson
2254:Tom Essence
2198:Epsom Wells
2027:John Dryden
1999:Playwrights
1467:The Relapse
1317:The Revenge
1281:Tom Essence
1240:John Crowne
1227:Dame Dobson
1167:Epsom Wells
1090:John Dryden
969:The Relapse
901:demographic
806:(1695) and
759:John Dryden
742:(1678) and
740:Popish Plot
608:John Dryden
550:(1675) and
508:Man of Mode
467:celebrities
449:Man of Mode
390:She-tragedy
377:boy players
203:apron stage
138:Restoration
132:is English
67:introducing
3814:Categories
3787:Postmodern
3777:Naturalism
3732:Classicism
3450:Television
3353:Music hall
3298:Vaudeville
3219:Macchietta
3209:Double act
3118:Indonesia
3112:Mo lei tau
3108:Hong Kong
3102:Xiangsheng
2973:Remarriage
2882:Visual gag
2872:Punch line
2867:Prank call
2688:Drury Lane
2612:Charles II
2578:Characters
2007:Aphra Behn
1725:References
1530:, (1705),
1294:Aphra Behn
1058:Aphra Behn
763:Aphra Behn
750:dramatist
601:postmodern
543:Aphra Behn
365:Nell Gwynn
335:'s famous
258:Ben Jonson
243:Drury Lane
172:Aphra Behn
3782:Modernism
3762:Melodrama
3597:Slapstick
3522:Christian
3517:Character
3494:Subgenres
3309:and dance
3229:Pantomime
3015:Slapstick
2988:Screwball
2892:Word play
2390:Bury Fair
2366:Bellamira
1903:The Rover
1791:1660–1700
1714:See also
1604:See also
1305:The Rover
1197:Bury Fair
1053:The Rover
1003:canonical
987:The Rover
907:of 1688,
697:impotence
658:(1675).
650:obscenity
580:classical
531:John Lacy
409:Nell Gwyn
213:, to the
3797:timeline
3747:Augustan
3710:Medieval
3637:Category
3572:Physical
3383:Operetta
3157:Sarugaku
3025:Thriller
2917:American
2837:Humorist
2807:Comedian
2698:Hedonism
2115:Notable
1870:, 1965,
1556:See also
1524:(1700),
1506:(1706),
1500:(1701),
1494:(1699),
1488:(1698),
1470:(1696),
1452:(1695),
1446:(1693),
1428:(1691),
1422:(1690),
1392:(1692),
1386:(1691),
1380:(1688),
1374:(1685),
1362:(1681),
1356:(1679),
1350:(1678),
1344:(1677),
1326:(1682),
1320:(1680),
1314:(1681),
1308:(1677),
1302:(1677),
1284:(1676),
1266:(1690),
1260:(1685),
1254:(1683),
1248:(1676),
1230:(1683),
1224:(1681),
1200:(1689),
1194:(1688),
1188:(1679),
1182:(1678),
1176:(1676),
1170:(1672),
1152:(1675),
1146:(1671),
1116:(1668),
1098:(1668),
1080:(1668),
1074:(1664),
1025:Mary Pix
786:'s dark
705:dialogue
569:Caroline
565:Jacobean
563:English
518:Comedies
512:de facto
235:Jacobean
223:Caroline
217:and the
160:argues:
3772:Realism
3609:Surreal
3537:Deadpan
3423:Hip hop
3321:Cabaret
3047:Country
3039:Theatre
3003:Mexican
2998:Italian
2978:Romance
2953:Fantasy
2932:Italian
2922:British
2910:Country
2632:Molière
1595:p. 149.
1368:(1682)
1218:(1673)
911:'s and
909:William
640:Molière
585:Molière
269:courtly
146:Puritan
63:improve
3830:Comedy
3752:Weimar
3647:Portal
3619:Zombie
3602:Topics
3562:Insult
3557:Horror
3532:Cringe
3465:Sitcom
3428:Parody
3152:Rakugo
3147:Owarai
3142:Manzai
3137:KyĹŤgen
3133:Japan
3127:Ludruk
3122:Lenong
3054:Europe
3020:Stoner
3010:Silent
2968:Parody
2958:Horror
2948:Action
2927:French
2877:Satire
2842:Humour
2800:Topics
2793:Comedy
2714:(film)
2706:(1994)
2663:Bedlam
2569:(1707)
2561:(1706)
2553:(1704)
2545:(1703)
2537:(1701)
2529:(1700)
2521:(1699)
2513:(1698)
2505:(1698)
2497:(1696)
2489:(1696)
2481:(1695)
2473:(1694)
2465:(1694)
2457:(1692)
2449:(1692)
2441:(1691)
2433:(1691)
2425:(1691)
2417:(1690)
2409:(1690)
2401:(1689)
2393:(1689)
2385:(1688)
2377:(1688)
2369:(1687)
2361:(1685)
2353:(1685)
2345:(1683)
2337:(1683)
2329:(1682)
2321:(1681)
2313:(1681)
2305:(1679)
2297:(1678)
2289:(1678)
2281:(1678)
2273:(1678)
2265:(1677)
2257:(1676)
2249:(1676)
2241:(1676)
2233:(1676)
2225:(1675)
2217:(1675)
2209:(1672)
2201:(1672)
2193:(1671)
2185:(1671)
2177:(1670)
2169:(1668)
2161:(1668)
2153:(1668)
2145:(1664)
2137:(1663)
2129:(1661)
1836:
1536:(1709)
1512:(1707)
1476:(1697)
1458:(1700)
1434:(1693)
1410:(1678)
1398:(1698)
1332:(1686)
1290:(1678)
1272:(1694)
1236:(1694)
1206:(1692)
1158:(1676)
1134:(1671)
1122:(1687)
1104:(1672)
1086:(1676)
1031:, and
834:(1697)
756:Tories
683:(1675)
614:, and
494:Hamlet
457:, and
351:Actors
273:genres
201:. The
134:comedy
3705:Roman
3700:Greek
3587:Shock
3527:Clown
3507:Black
3460:Roast
3445:Radio
3440:Novel
3413:Album
3408:Music
3401:Media
3388:Revue
3307:Music
3172:Genre
3097:China
2941:Genre
2857:Irony
2832:Farce
2678:Court
2591:Spark
2117:plays
1578:Notes
620:macho
577:Roman
573:Greek
48:, or
3592:Sick
3577:Prop
3548:High
3512:Blue
3418:Rock
3273:Spex
3090:Asia
2902:Film
2862:Joke
2729:Mode
2596:Rake
1834:ISBN
971:and
963:and
951:and
913:Mary
777:and
761:and
748:Whig
575:and
567:and
245:and
229:and
104:and
3552:low
2993:Sex
2887:Wit
2751:Wit
2586:Fop
1056:by
979:'s
794:fop
642:'s
591:'s
506:'s
446:'s
392:.)
275:of
241:in
195:'s
121:'s
3816::
3550:/
1518:–
1482:–
1464:–
1440:–
1416:–
1404:–
1338:–
1296:–
1278:–
1242:–
1212:–
1164:–
1140:–
1128:–
1110:–
1092:–
1068:–
1039:.
1027:,
1023:,
845:,
668:,
610:,
473:.
427:.
279:,
174:.
52:,
44:,
3681:e
3674:t
3667:v
2785:e
2778:t
2771:v
1983:e
1976:t
1969:v
1842:.
1718:.
1608:.
461:.
451:.
108:.
88:)
82:(
77:)
73:(
59:.
20:)
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