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identity. Kite abducts 'him' for Plume while Plume duels with Brazen. Still disguised as Wilful, Sylvia goes on to spend the night in bed with Rose, a local wench previously courted by Plume to get Rose's brother
Bullock to join up. An action is brought against 'Wilful' for sexually assaulting Rose and 'he' finds 'himself' on trial before Sylvia's father Balance and his two fellow magistrates Scruple and Scale. The three magistrates also look into Kite's dubious recruiting practices but finally acquit him and force Wilful to swear to the
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Meanwhile, Melinda continues to discourage Worthy, until going to a fortune teller (in fact Kite in disguise), where she is convinced to relent and accept his courtship. She is also tricked by being given a sample of her handwriting by the 'fortune teller', who takes it from a 'devil' he has conjured
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Worthy then goes to visit
Melinda but, on going to tell Plume the good news, finds out that Melinda seems to be eloping with Brazen after all. Worthy intercepts Brazen and a disguised woman whom he takes to be Melinda, and challenges Brazen to a duel. The duel is prevented when the woman drops her
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Sylvia leaves her father's house to mourn her brother Owen's death. She tells her father
Balance that she is going to the Welsh countryside but in fact goes into Shrewsbury dressed as a man, under the name 'Jack Wilful'. There Brazen and Plume compete to recruit 'Wilful', unaware of 'his' real
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disguise and reveals herself to be Lucy. Sylvia also drops her disguise. Plume agrees to leave the army and marry her, Melinda relents towards Worthy and agrees to marry him, and Plume transfers his twenty recruits to Brazen to compensate him for the loss of a rich marriage with
Melinda.
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up under the table (in fact Plume). Kite is then visited by Brazen, who gives him a love letter from, as he thinks, Melinda. However, by comparing the handwriting sample, Worthy discovers that the letter is in fact from
Melinda's maid Lucy, who hopes to ensnare Brazen as a husband.
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from
Farquhar's "Epistle Dedicatory" to the people of Shrewsbury, in which he notes: "’Twas my good fortune to be order'd some time ago into the Place which is made the Scene…Some little turns of Humour that I met with…gave rise to this
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opened at Drury Lane in 1706. It was an immediate hit and went on to become one of the most frequently performed plays of the 18th century. The part of the foppish Brazen proved a significant role for the actor-manager
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included The
Recruiting Officer in its 2018 repertory season with Nate Burger as Plume, Marcus Truschinski as Brazen, Jefferson A. Russell as Kite and directed by William Brown.
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For more information on this production's rehearsal period and performance, consult: Max
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Theatre (while based at the Old Vic) in 1963 – its inaugural season. Directed by
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in 1789 under the governance of
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The play opens with
Captain Plume's Sergeant Kite recruiting in the town of
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A History of the Theater in America from Its Beginnings to the Present Time
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There have been two television adaptations of the play. The first for
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For the 1965 Australian television production based on this play, see
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Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage
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was the first play to be staged in New York City, at the
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The National Theatre staged the play again in 1991 with
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The best remembered modern revival was staged at the
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1080:Marriage à la mode
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747:. 23 February 2012
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592:Our Country's Good
571:Trumpets and Drums
552:as Sergeant Kite.
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886:Susanna Centlivre
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1567:Fleet Prison
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1200:The Royalist
1198:
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1168:A True Widow
1166:
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936:Thomas Otway
926:James Howard
823:
805:
785:
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766:
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749:. Retrieved
739:
727:. Retrieved
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569:
568:as the play
565:
559:
546:John Moffatt
544:as Melinda,
534:Ian McKellen
523:
517:
506:
487:
468:
466:as Melinda.
460:Maggie Smith
456:Derek Jacobi
433:
418:
409:
408:
392:Henry Norris
390:as Bullock,
368:Robert Wilks
358:
357:
348:
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245:Two Recruits
244:
234:
224:
214:Capt. Brazen
207:
197:
182:
163:
124:
123:
122:
71:8 April 1706
50:Robert Wilks
32:
1593:Libertinism
1516:Georg Monck
1368:The Relapse
1216:Dame Dobson
1128:Tom Essence
1072:Epsom Wells
901:John Dryden
873:Playwrights
729:23 December
587:First Fleet
556:Adaptations
530:David Giles
498:Mark Gatiss
473:as Brazen,
464:Mary Miller
458:as Worthy,
446:as Brazen,
429:First Fleet
425:First Fleet
396:Jane Rogers
382:as Worthy,
376:Thomas Kent
204:Capt. Plume
189:Mr Scruple
1646:1706 plays
1640:Categories
1562:Drury Lane
1486:Charles II
1452:Characters
881:Aphra Behn
751:17 January
603:References
542:Jane Asher
536:as Plume,
450:as Plume,
378:as Scale,
370:as Plume,
332:Shrewsbury
172:Mr Balance
156:Characters
138:Shrewsbury
112:Shrewsbury
58:Written by
1264:Bury Fair
1240:Bellamira
625:From the
574:in 1955.
504:as Kite.
479:Ken Stott
454:as Kite,
406:as Rose.
386:as Kite,
194:Mr Worthy
1572:Hedonism
989:Notable
829:LibriVox
773:Ausstage
616:Comedy."
564:adapted
488:In 2012
179:Mr Scale
134:officers
1506:Molière
725:: 26–57
267:Melinda
231:Bullock
116:England
108:Setting
93:English
1588:(film)
1580:(1994)
1537:Bedlam
1443:(1707)
1435:(1706)
1427:(1704)
1419:(1703)
1411:(1701)
1403:(1700)
1395:(1699)
1387:(1698)
1379:(1698)
1371:(1696)
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1355:(1695)
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1051:(1670)
1043:(1668)
1035:(1668)
1027:(1668)
1019:(1664)
1011:(1663)
1003:(1661)
700:
650:
277:Sylvia
84:London
1552:Court
1465:Spark
991:plays
259:Women
146:genre
142:stock
98:Genre
1603:Mode
1470:Rake
753:2017
731:2023
698:ISBN
648:ISBN
319:Plot
297:Rose
287:Lucy
221:Kite
1625:Wit
1460:Fop
810:at
771:at
164:Men
148:of
1642::
723:40
721:.
717:.
692:,
642:,
485:.
342:.
152:.
114:,
82:,
857:e
850:t
843:v
755:.
733:.
30:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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