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The Beaux' Stratagem
Contributor(s): Farquhar, George (Author), Blake, Ann (Editor), Blake, Ann
ISBN: 0713670002     ISBN-13: 9780713670004
Publisher: Methuen Drama
OUR PRICE:   $13.25  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: November 2005
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Drama | European - English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
Dewey: 822.4
Series: New Mermaids
Physical Information: 0.59" H x 4.99" W x 7.8" (0.46 lbs) 192 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

It attests to Farquhar's stature as a man that he composed this
warm-hearted and vibrant play while he was dying. Like The Recruiting
Officer, the play is set in a provincial town and its plot is slight:
Aimwell and Archer, two impecunious London gentlemen, arrive in
Lichfield looking for an heiress to marry. Aimwell, posing as his elder
brother, falls in love with his 'prey' Dorinda and confesses his
imposture to her; his 'man-servant' Archer arouses the wistful interest
of the unhappily married Mrs Sullen. The introduction to this edition
discusses the play for its theatrical merits and argues that it
dramatises the ills of marriage in early modern England, shown by
Farquhar to be more injurious to the wife than to the husband, and
calls for a reform of the divorce laws.

Contributor Bio(s): Farquhar, George: - George Farquhar (1678-1707) was an Irish-born playwright of the Restoration period. During his ten-year career, he produced two brilliant comedies, The Recruiting Officer in 1706 and The Beaux' Stratagem the following year. The son of a clergyman, he studied at Trinity College, Dublin, before briefly working as an actor at the Smock Alley Theatre in that city. Following an accident during a stage fight, when he mistakenly used a real sword and wounded a fellow actor so badly that he almost died, Farquhar renounced acting. Encouraged by his fellow actor Robert Wilks, he took up the pen and settled in London. His first play Love and a Bottle was well received at Drury Lane in 1698. The following year, The Constant Couple; or, A Trip to the Jubilee was an even greater hit with Wilks in the lead. After Sir Harry Wildair (1701), a sequel to The Constant Couple, and The Twin-Rivals (1702), he wrote his first great play. The first production of The Recruiting Officer starred Anne Oldfield, with whom Farquhar supposedly had an affair. The following year Farquhar, with "not one shilling" in his pocket, was encouraged by Wilks to produce a hastily written play. The next day Farquhar delivered the plot for The Beaux' Stratagem, which was presented on stage within six weeks. He died from tuberculosis after the third performance.