The Apostate

About the show

The Apostate is an 1817 tragedy by the Irish writer Richard Lalor Sheil. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 3 May 1817. The original cast included William Macready as Pescara, Charles Kemble as Hemeya, Charles Mayne Young as Malec, Thomas Comer as Hamy, Charles Murray as Alvarez, Daniel Egerton as Gomez and Elizabeth O'Neill as Florinda. The prologue was spoken by Charles Connor. It was loosely inspired by a 17th-century work by the Spanish playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca. The play was a success, but reviewers generally attributed this to O'Neill's acting rather than Sheil's writing. John Wilkes Booth's last appearance onstage before he assassinated Abraham Lincoln was as Pescara at Ford's Theater. Of that appearance, the Washington Republican later wrote: "The villain Pescara was represented by the greater villain Booth."