William D'Avenant, The Playhouse to be Let

Dawn Lewcock (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1663

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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On 7th May 1663 Thomas Killigrew opened Bridges Street theatre with

The Humourous Lieutenant,

by Beaumont and Fletcher, his first presentation with scenery. Pepys found the theatre so full at the end of May that he had to go on to the Duke's house and see Betterton in

Hamlet

again, and on 13th June Pepys saw

The Faithful Shepherdess,

by Fletcher

at Bridges Street, and remarks on the thronged house come for “the Scenes sake, which is very fine indeed.” Sir William D'Avenant urgently needed new material before Killigrew attracted all the custom away from his theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and the following August

The Playhouse to be Let

appeared.

Often regarded as a conglomeration cobbled together by D'Avenant to fill the summer doldrums there is only one record of its presentation.

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1560 words

Citation: Lewcock, Dawn. "The Playhouse to be Let". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 September 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23113, accessed 25 November 2024.]

William D'Avenant, The Playhouse to be Let

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