Event Comment: The
United Company. The date of the first performance is not precisely known, but a
broadside copy of the
Epilogue, in the
Bodleian Library, has a licensing date of 20 Aug. 1685, a MS date of 24 Aug. 1685. The play was licensed on 11 Sept. 1685. These dates suggest a premiere in mid-to late-August 1685. For
Anne Bracegirdle as
Clita and speaker of the Epilogue, see
Lucyle Hook,
Anne Bracegirdle's First Appearance,
Theatre Notebook, XIII (1959), 135. The
Prologue and Epilogue, separately printed, are reprinted in
Wiley,
Rare Prologues and Epilogues, pp. 239-41. The
broadside Prologue has a more detailed heading than that in the edition of 1686: Prologue To A Commonwealth of Women, Spoke by
Mr Haynes, Habited like a Whig, Captain of the Scyth-men in the West, a Scythe in his Hand. Two songs, set by
Samuel Ackroyde, are in
The Theater of Musick, The Third Book, 1686
Performances
Mainpiece Title: A Commonwealth Of Women