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Thetis disguises Achilles as Pyrrha on Skyros to keep him from the Trojan War. Achilles falls in love with Deidamia, daughter of King Lycomedes, and Ulysses eventually recognizes him. Achilles and Deidamia marry before he leaves to fight at Troy.
In the pastoral setting, Acis and Galatea fall in love. The giant Polyphemus, jealous of Galatea, kills Acis; Galatea uses her divine power to transform Acis into a fountain, and the chorus celebrates his immortality.
Polly Peachum travels to the West Indies in search of Macheath, now a pirate living with Jenny Diver. Mrs Trapes kidnaps Polly to sell her to planter Mr Ducat; Polly disguises herself as a young man. After pirates are defeated and identities exposed, Macheath is executed and Polly marries Cawwawkee, son of the Indian king.
Peachum and his wife discover that their daughter Polly has secretly married Macheath, the highwayman who is one of Peachum’s clients. They arrange to have Macheath captured and killed for his money. Macheath is imprisoned, escapes with Lucy Lockit’s help, and is recaptured. Four other women also claim to be his wives. He prepares to hang, but the Beggar changes the ending to satisfy the audience’s demand for a happy conclusion, and Macheath is reprieved and reunited with Polly.
The Captives is a 1724 tragedy by the British writer John Gay. The action takes place in the ancient Median Empire, following the fashion in many tragedies of the era to have oriental settings. It concerns a plot against the King, which involves his wife and two royal Persian captives. It was staged at the Drury Lane Theatre and starred the leading actors Robert Wilks as Phraortes, Anne Oldfield as Captive, Barton Booth as Sophernes, John Mills as Hydarnes, Mary Porter as Astarbe, Charles Williams as Araxes and Roger Bridgewater as Orbasius. It enjoyed a solid run of seven performances, but the rival Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre put on a series of popular hits such as The Recruiting Officer, The Drummer and The Double Dealer against it. George, Prince of Wales and his wife Princess Caroline attended a performance of the play.
In Victorian London, gangster Macheath secretly marries Polly Peachum, angering her father, the city’s beggar boss. Macheath’s friend, police chief Tiger Brown, initially protects him, but Peachum pressures Brown by threatening to disrupt Queen Victoria’s coronation parade with beggars. Macheath is arrested and sentenced to hang; in a deliberately comic reversal, a royal messenger pardons him and grants him a title, castle, and pension.
The What D'Ye Call It is a 1715 farce by the British writer John Gay. It was written as a parody of tragic plays, with particular reference to Thomas Otway's Venice Preserv'd. It was originally performed as an afterpiece with Nicholas Rowe's tragedy Jane Shore at Drury Lane, the cast including Benjamin Johnson, Henry Norris, Richard Cross, James Quin and Elizabeth Younger and Margaret Bicknell. This was followed by a command performance the next night attended by George, Prince of Wales, possibly due to the influence of Gay's friend Henrietta Howard. A hit, by the end of the season it had been performed seventeen times. It was revived frequently during the eighteenth century and is Gay's second most performed work after The Beggar's Opera. It features a ballad "'Twas When the Seas Were Roaring" (also known as "The Meloncholy Nymph") to music written by George Frideric Handel which achieved popularity in its own right and was soon on sale as a song sheet. Gay and Handel collaborated subsequently on Acis and Galatea (1718).
The Wife of Bath is a 1713 comedy play by the British writer John Gay. It was inspired by The Wife of Bath's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer. The play marked a conscious switch by Gay towards an apolitical and distant past, after his contemporary work The Mohocks had faced controversy and censorship the previous year. Robert Wilks, a celebrated actor and manager of the Drury Lane Theatre, appeared as Chaucer. The title role of the wife was played by Margaret Bicknell with Mary Porter as Myrtilla and the cast rounded out by William Bullock, Lacy Ryan, Christopher Bullock, William Pinkethman, Susanna Mountfort and Henry Norris. It had been expected to premiere in April 1713, but was delayed by the lengthy run of Joseph Addison's Cato which had been widely acclaimed. When it was finally able to be staged, it lasted for only two nights. However a publisher Bernard Lintot paid £25 for the copyright to the work, while Richard Steele had been enthusiastic after seeing it in rehearsals. The epilogue was likely to have been written by Gay's friend and fellow Tory Alexander Pope. On 19 January 1730 the play, substantially rewritten by Gay who was now celebrated for his The Beggar's Opera, opened at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. The cast featured John Hippisley and Jane Egleton, who has both appeared in The Beggar's Opera. Other cast members included Thomas Chapman, Anthony Boheme, William Milward, Charles Hulett and Elizabeth Younger. It ran for three nights and this time Lintot paid £75 for the copyright to print it for sale. However, the play was never revived.
Doctor Fossil, a pompous older scientist, has just married the much younger Mrs. Townley when two rival suitors try to win her affections. She and the suitors make comic efforts to hide their intentions from him, while a poet and a literary critic complicate the farce.
Thetis disguises Achilles as Pyrrha on Skyros to keep him from the Trojan War. Achilles falls in love with Deidamia, daughter of King Lycomedes, and Ulysses eventually recognizes him. Achilles and Deidamia marry before he leaves to fight at Troy.
In the pastoral setting, Acis and Galatea fall in love. The giant Polyphemus, jealous of Galatea, kills Acis; Galatea uses her divine power to transform Acis into a fountain, and the chorus celebrates his immortality.
Polly Peachum travels to the West Indies in search of Macheath, now a pirate living with Jenny Diver. Mrs Trapes kidnaps Polly to sell her to planter Mr Ducat; Polly disguises herself as a young man. After pirates are defeated and identities exposed, Macheath is executed and Polly marries Cawwawkee, son of the Indian king.
Peachum and his wife discover that their daughter Polly has secretly married Macheath, the highwayman who is one of Peachum’s clients. They arrange to have Macheath captured and killed for his money. Macheath is imprisoned, escapes with Lucy Lockit’s help, and is recaptured. Four other women also claim to be his wives. He prepares to hang, but the Beggar changes the ending to satisfy the audience’s demand for a happy conclusion, and Macheath is reprieved and reunited with Polly.
The Captives is a 1724 tragedy by the British writer John Gay. The action takes place in the ancient Median Empire, following the fashion in many tragedies of the era to have oriental settings. It concerns a plot against the King, which involves his wife and two royal Persian captives. It was staged at the Drury Lane Theatre and starred the leading actors Robert Wilks as Phraortes, Anne Oldfield as Captive, Barton Booth as Sophernes, John Mills as Hydarnes, Mary Porter as Astarbe, Charles Williams as Araxes and Roger Bridgewater as Orbasius. It enjoyed a solid run of seven performances, but the rival Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre put on a series of popular hits such as The Recruiting Officer, The Drummer and The Double Dealer against it. George, Prince of Wales and his wife Princess Caroline attended a performance of the play.
In Victorian London, gangster Macheath secretly marries Polly Peachum, angering her father, the city’s beggar boss. Macheath’s friend, police chief Tiger Brown, initially protects him, but Peachum pressures Brown by threatening to disrupt Queen Victoria’s coronation parade with beggars. Macheath is arrested and sentenced to hang; in a deliberately comic reversal, a royal messenger pardons him and grants him a title, castle, and pension.
The What D'Ye Call It is a 1715 farce by the British writer John Gay. It was written as a parody of tragic plays, with particular reference to Thomas Otway's Venice Preserv'd. It was originally performed as an afterpiece with Nicholas Rowe's tragedy Jane Shore at Drury Lane, the cast including Benjamin Johnson, Henry Norris, Richard Cross, James Quin and Elizabeth Younger and Margaret Bicknell. This was followed by a command performance the next night attended by George, Prince of Wales, possibly due to the influence of Gay's friend Henrietta Howard. A hit, by the end of the season it had been performed seventeen times. It was revived frequently during the eighteenth century and is Gay's second most performed work after The Beggar's Opera. It features a ballad "'Twas When the Seas Were Roaring" (also known as "The Meloncholy Nymph") to music written by George Frideric Handel which achieved popularity in its own right and was soon on sale as a song sheet. Gay and Handel collaborated subsequently on Acis and Galatea (1718).
The Wife of Bath is a 1713 comedy play by the British writer John Gay. It was inspired by The Wife of Bath's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer. The play marked a conscious switch by Gay towards an apolitical and distant past, after his contemporary work The Mohocks had faced controversy and censorship the previous year. Robert Wilks, a celebrated actor and manager of the Drury Lane Theatre, appeared as Chaucer. The title role of the wife was played by Margaret Bicknell with Mary Porter as Myrtilla and the cast rounded out by William Bullock, Lacy Ryan, Christopher Bullock, William Pinkethman, Susanna Mountfort and Henry Norris. It had been expected to premiere in April 1713, but was delayed by the lengthy run of Joseph Addison's Cato which had been widely acclaimed. When it was finally able to be staged, it lasted for only two nights. However a publisher Bernard Lintot paid £25 for the copyright to the work, while Richard Steele had been enthusiastic after seeing it in rehearsals. The epilogue was likely to have been written by Gay's friend and fellow Tory Alexander Pope. On 19 January 1730 the play, substantially rewritten by Gay who was now celebrated for his The Beggar's Opera, opened at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. The cast featured John Hippisley and Jane Egleton, who has both appeared in The Beggar's Opera. Other cast members included Thomas Chapman, Anthony Boheme, William Milward, Charles Hulett and Elizabeth Younger. It ran for three nights and this time Lintot paid £75 for the copyright to print it for sale. However, the play was never revived.
Doctor Fossil, a pompous older scientist, has just married the much younger Mrs. Townley when two rival suitors try to win her affections. She and the suitors make comic efforts to hide their intentions from him, while a poet and a literary critic complicate the farce.