Event Comment: The King's Company. Evelyn, Diary: Whence to see the Duke of Buckingam's ridiculous farce & Rhapsody called the Recital, bouffoning all Plays yet prophane enough. In a collection of broadsides (Bodleian Wood 417) A Ballad (on Buckingham and his son) has some lines which apparently refer to a performance: @I confess the Dances were very well Writ, @And the Tune and the Time by Haynes as well Hit, @And Littlewood's Motion and Dress had much Wit: @But when his Poet John Bayes did appear, @'Tis known to more than half that were there, @The greatest part was his own Character.

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is most uncertain. The play was apparently finished in July 1671-see C. E. Ward, The Life of John Dryden (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1961), p. 83-and the play may have been acted before April 1672. For the possibilities see Macdonald, Bibliography of Dryden, p. 110, and Nicoll, Restoration Drama, pp. 404-5. The Prologue and Epilogue are in Covent Garden Drollery, 1672. The song, Whilst Alexas lay prest, the music by Nicholas Staggins, was printed in Westminster Drollery (entered in the Stationers' Register, 3 June 1672) and in Choice Songs and Ayres, The First Book, 1673. Another song, Why should a foolish Marriage Vow, set by Robert Smith, is also in Choice Songs and Ayres, 1673

Event Comment: The King's Company. This play is one of a series represented by Prologues and Epilogues in Covent Garden Drollery, 1672, all of which may have been acted by the actress only. Langbaine (English Dramatick Poets, p. 213) states: This Play was One of those that were represented at the old Theatre in Lincolns-Inn-Fields, when the Women acted alone. The Prologue and Epilogue were spoken by Mrs Marshall, and printed in Covent-garden Drollery, pag. 18. About this Time there was a Prologue written on purpose for the Women by Mr Dryden, and is printed in his Miscellany Poems in octavo, p. 285

Event Comment: The King's Company. This is another in the series of plays acted entirely by actresses and probably Performed in the early summer of 1672. The Prologue and Epilogue are in Covent Garden Drollery, 1672. Langbaine (English Dramatick Poets, p. 313): This play was reviv'd at the Old Theatre, in little Lincolns-Inn-fields, and acted all by Women, a new Prologue and Epilogue being spoken by Mrs Marshall in Man's Cloaths, which Reader may find printed in Covent-Garden Drollery, 80, pag. 3. &c

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 2. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 347. There is no certainty that this is the premiere. A song, A heart in love's empire, with music by Robert Smith, and another, Let's drink dear friends, set by Thomas? Farmer, are in Choice Songs and Ayres, The First Book, 1673. The Dedication in the edition of 1672 is to Prince Rupert and states: tho' of thirty times it has been acted, you seldom fail'd to honour it with your presence. Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 32): The next new Comedy [at dg] was the Mamamouchi, or the Citizen turn'd Gentleman, Wrote by Mr Ravenscroft [cast as in edition of 1672 except French Tutor and Singing Master, by Mr Haines: (He having Affronted Mr Hart, he gave him a Discharge and then came into our House)]; This Comedy was look[ed] upon by the Criticks for a Foolish Play; yet it continu'd Acting 9 Days with a full House; upon the Sixth the House being very full: The Poet added 2 more Lines to his Epilogue, viz. @The Criticks came to Hiss, and Dam this Play,@Yet spite of themselves they can't keep away.@ However, Mr Nokes in performing the Mamomouchi pleas'd the King and Court, next Sir Martin, above all Plays

Event Comment: The Duke's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 2: King Hen. 8. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 347. In The Rehearsal (II, V): Mr Bayes informs his actors that "you Dance worse than the Angels in Harry the Eight." The Epilogue to The Ordinary (in A Collection of Poems Written upon several Occasions by several Persons, 1673) may refer to the same spectacle: @Now empty shows must want of sense supply,@Angels shall dance, and Macbeths Witches fly.

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but the play followed The Citizen Turned Gentleman (4 July 1672) and refers to it in the Prologue. Edward Ravenscroft replied in the Preface and Prologue to The Careless Lovers, which appeared in February or March 1672@3. A song, Long betwixt Love and fear Phillis tormented, set by Robert Smith, is in Choice Songs and Ayres, The First Book, 1673. Preface to The Assignation: It succeeded ill in the representation, against the opinion of many of the best Judges of our Age. Langbaine, English Dramatick Poets, p. 154: This Play was Damn'd on the Stage

Event Comment: The King's Company. This play is listed in A Calendar of Inner Temple Records, ed. Inderwick, III, 89, for the period 29 Oct. 1671 to 3 Nov. 1672. In view of the previous sequence of performances it seems more likely that Philaster was acted in 1672 than in 1671

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but this play belongs to a group which have been considered as "Lenten plays," ones in which the young actors of a company comprise a large portion of the cast. On this basis, as Easter fell on 30 March 1673, this play has been assigned to March 1673. See Philip B. Gray Jr, Lenten Casts and the Nursery: Evidence for the Dating of Certain Restoration Plays, PMLA, LIII (1938), 781-94; for this play particularly, pp. 791-92. A song, Down with this love, set for this play by Alphonso Marsh, is in Choice Ayres and Songs, 1676

Event Comment: A revival of this play (probably by the King's Company) at about this time is a possibility. The Prologue and Epilogue are in A Collection of Poems Written upon several Occasions by several Persons (1673), and the Epilogue refers to the Witches in Macbeth, which had been acted on 18 Feb. 1672@3. See The Plays and Poems of William Cartwright, ed. G. Blakemore Evans (Madison, Wis., 1951), pp. 610-12

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but as the play was entered in the Stationers' Register, 26 June 1673, it was probably acted in May 1673 or earlier. For a discussion of its possible dates, see Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 403. A song, The day is come, I see it rise, set by Robert Smith, is in Choice Songs and Ayres, The First Book, 1673. Dedication to the edition of 1673:...though it succeeded on the Stage

Event Comment: The Diary of Robert Hooke, 1672-1678: at Scaramuches at york house. present: the King, Duke of York, Lord Ormond &c. (ed. H. W. Robinson and Walter Adams [London, 1935], p. 42). See slso Boswell, Restoration Court Stage, pp. 118-19, and John Harold Wilson, A Theatre in York House, Theatre Notebook, XVI (1962), 75-78

Event Comment: A quarrel occurred at the King's Theatre on this day (apparently) between Ravenscroft and Sir George Hewitt. See Letters Adressed from London to Sir Joseph Williamson, Camden Society, VIII (1874), 87

Event Comment: The King's Company acted at Oxford. John Dryden wrote a Prologue, To the University of Oxon, Spoken by Mr Hart, at the Acting of The Silent Woman, 1673, and an Epilogue, Spoken by the Same. There were first printed in the 1684 Miscellany Poems

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the first production is not known, but, as the play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1674, it was probably first presented not later than the early months of 1674

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but, as the play was entered in the Term Catalogues, May 1674, a first production not later than March 1674 is likely. In addition, the relatively large number of minor actors suggests that it might be a Lenten performance by the young players of the company. As to the authorship, the title page states: Written by a Person of Honour. On the other hand, Langbaine (English Dramatick Poets, p. 526) reports that he had heard that it was written by Duffett. The second Prologue is in Covent Garden Drollery, 1673, but the fact that it was intended but not spoken does not assist in dating the first performance

Event Comment: The King's Company. The date of the premiere is not known, but John Harold Wilson, Six Restoration Play-Dates, Notes and Queries, June 1962, p. 221, has argued, primarily on references in the Epilogue, that the play was probably produced before the opening of the new Theatre Royal in Drury Lane and following two unsuccessful plays: The Mall and The Amorous Old Woman. The Prologue is in New Songs and Poems a la Mode, 1677. Preface to the edition of 1675: This play was left in Mr Dryden's hands many years since. The Author of it was unknown to him, and return'd not to claim it

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance, which marks the opening of the new Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 73. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 345. The Prologue and Epilogue were printed in Miscellany Poems, 1684. That the Prologue was spoken by Mohun is indicated in BM Sloane MSS. 4445

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance (entitled The French Opera) is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 73. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 345. The edition of 1674 (appearing in both an English and a French version) states: An Opera, or, a Vocal Representation. First Compos'd by Monsieur P. P. Now put into Musick by Monsieur Grabut, Master of His Majesties Musick. And Acted by the Royall Academy of Musick, At the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. The names of the singers for this production are not known, but it is possible that some of the French singers who appeared in Calisto in the following season, 1674-75, were in London for this production. See Boswell, Restoration Court Stage, pp. 201, 222, and W. J. Lawrence, Early French Players in England, The Elizabethan Playhouse and Other Studies, p. 145. French dancers in the opera were Pecurr [Preux], LeTemps, Shenan, D'muraile. See L. C. 5@140, p. 472, in Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 355

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list 5@141, p. 73. See also Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 345. In a poem, Gallantry A-la-mode (1674) are some lines concerning a performance of this play (pp. 78-84)

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 73. See Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 345

Event Comment: The King's Company. This performance is on the L. C. list, 5@141, p. 73. See Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 345

Event Comment: It is possible that The Tempest had been acted regularly to this date and that it continued to be presented frequently in the following week. In L. C. 5@15, p. 3 (Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 356) there is an order directing Turner and Hart (and any other members of the His Majesty's Chapel Royal) who sing in The Tempest to remain in London during the week, going to Windsor (when the King was absent from Whitehall) on Saturdays and returning on Mondays