Classical - Restoration - Angelica's Character Study

Angelica's Character Study

In Restoration it is extremely important that you research your character in extreme depth, Restoration theatre is perhaps one of the most important eras for theatre because of its heavy satire and parody off the political times, political leaders and the monarchy of the period. It shows various historical events through the parody of various playwrights during the era, I want to explore Angelica's extremely erratic lifestyle and emotion, she's a woman of the dark trade but she has so much more about her, I'm so excited to portray my version of the tedious and pride ridden Angelica Bianca.

Angelica Bianca is a woman of the dark trade who made her life on beauty and lust after the loss of her first and only husband, named in the script as "The General". She has been this way for a long time, especially throughout the Interregnum, and she has built up her pride and honour with the use of prostitution, her age isn't mentioned in the script but I have decided to play her at the age of 33, although not considered old in this time today it would be considered old or she would be considered and older woman, especially because she has already become a widow and the life expectancy was a lot less than it is today. There is so much to explore with this character because she is a lot more experienced due to her being older compared to the rest of the females, who are all aged around 19 and their early 20s, she has a bitter side to her, a crestfallen side to her that is hidden under cages and cages of pride and stone cold attitude.

Context of the Character

Angelica's role in The Rover is extremely important and highlights a traditional context as well as giving the play a function. Angelica shows that women were stuck in this era, they had to obey tradition of their family and if it didn't work out then they were either left to fend for themselves or rearranged in a new life with help of the male members of their family. She was married and I assume this was organised by her family and family of The General, she didn't have a choice in who she was marrying but women of this era weren't necessarily concerned about it, it was their fate and it was how every woman was treated so it was the norm in most aspects, although some women may not have been happy about their choice of man, maybe because of his looks, his wealth, his age or how he treated women, in The Rover Florinda is seen to hate every man she has been set up with by her brother Don Pedro, mostly because she wants to marry Belvile, she describes a man she is set up to marry as a "hated object" and how she wishes her brother would let her marry who she wants to. Angelica, however, was quite happy with her choice of man, he was young with good work, wealthy and regardless he would be out at sea most of the time due to his work, so it wouldn't be hard to maintain.

In my own personal characterisation, I believe that Angelica was always a girl full of pride, spoilt by her parents, she was adored by all for her innocence and beauty, when she found a man who could make her surrender her pride with seduction and love, it was the perfect fit for her and she couldn't be happier. I believe she truly loved The General, and this is why she refuses to marry after his death and give her body to drunk men looking for a night of passion, she doesn't want to give her true devotion to anyone else (except for when she meets Willmore, who is the only man fit for her other than The General). These traits in my portrayal of Angelica's character is important to the traditional context of the plot, she represents the hard freedom of women, although they wanted freedom it had hard prices that had to be paid. Angelica, after becoming a widow, is now free to do what she wants, since she is an older woman now and doesn't necessarily have the people in her life to help her out any more, but this was a curse because she couldn't work (or refused to) because she was a woman of wealth, and she had too much of a reputation and too much wealth to uphold, but I believe Angelica didn't want to let her life go to waste and live her days lonely with the reputation of a widow, making her seem older than she is, so she decided to become a prostitute of the age, but one of wealth and beauty, she didn't want to be a commoner, she wanted to seduce men and have them beg for her service, she wanted her beauty to be admired and have men at her feet, she wasn't ready to let her beauty go to waste and she certainly wasn't ready to give it up to another man, not yet at least.

I think this want for admiration was brought on when her husband died, she refused to have a reputation as a widow and she didn't want the void in her heart being unfulfilled, so she wanted to restore her pride and rebuild it, she wasn't ready for the burden of the older women in this period. Although during this era, I assume rich prostitution was almost unheard of, but Aphra Behn being a female playwright of the Restoration period wanted to explore how women of that profession and women in Angelica's position felt, she used Angelica to portray the true needs and wants of women, even when they're older, we are not objects to be labelled, being called a widow aged a women and it was a painful experience enough without gaining a bad reputation. Behn herself was (apparently) a widow, or she had separated from her husband, and this obviously put a label on her, I believe Behn wanted to express her true anger and need through Angelica and make sure that we as an audience (as well as an audience of the Restoration period) understood that women are not just things to put labels on and judge them purely on that, she also used Angelica to emphasise the weakness in men of that era, how they acted all high and mighty around women but when faced with seduction they became like a dog begging for a bone, she was hated for her portrayal of men and for the general dramatics that she portrayed in her work, and the idea that men would even pay 1000 crowns for a week or so with a famous beauty. Angelica is the devil on all men's shoulders, and I adore how Behn used this character to shame men of her period.

Research
 

I've already been researching a lot in the time period of Restoration in my research file but there has been certain parts of the research that has been particularly good for my character. I researched one of the most famous female actors of the Restoration period, Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn who was born on 2 February 1650 and died on 14 November 1687; she was a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England and Scotland. Noted and commented as "pretty, witty Nell" by Samuel Pepys, she has been regarded as a living embodiment of the spirit of Restoration England and has come to be considered a folk heroine, a lot of people compare her to the likes of Cinderella, as she quickly went from poor to rich becoming one of Charles' mistresses. I wanted to use Nell Gwyn as a possible inspiration for Angelica, Angelica however already being born into a fairly wealthy lifestyle, did not gain her reputation of beauty and wit until she decided to become a mistress and prostitute. Perhaps a satire of Nell Gwyn but highly unlikely, still a great comparison and you can definitely see how Angelica was used to satire those in Gwyn's position perhaps. "She was the most famous Restoration actress and possessed a prodigious comic talent. Gwyn had two sons by King Charles: Charles Beauclerk (1670–1726), James Beauclerk (1671–1680). Charles was created Earl of Burford and later Duke of St. Albans." I love that I can use a women in high power for her sexual desire to compare with Angelica, it makes the part of Angelica seem so much more real and it's something that I really appreciate in the history of women, I love the stories of women and their achieved freedom using their body, beauty and intelligence, it's inspirational and something I can use in the character of Angelica. Obviously, in today's society, no one would be willing to pay the equivalent of 1000 crowns to sleep with someone of 'quality', since the idea of a prostitute would never be classy, even a rich and beautiful one, it was hard to even think of how men would pay that amount of money for someone even as beautiful as Angelica, but this real life portrayal of rich, sexy, witty beautiful women using men for power and fame is something that has really increased my characterisation of Angelica, and this research definitely enhanced my performance.

Back Story

Every character has a back story, otherwise their motives, objectives and reactions in the play would be empty. Every real life human has been through different ordeals and experiences and it's so important that every character gets the right amount of back story to support them throughout their respected play.

Past
Angelica's past is a simple one, she was born into a wealthy family and always knew the life of being spoilt. She was a kind child and teenager, she was proper and knew the proper ways of being a woman in this period of time. Well educated, she was aware of the Civil War and politics of England and how men were constantly visiting her dream land of Naples because of banishment or get away. She met a young adventurer while out with her closest and trusted friend Moretta during carnival season, Angelica was 16 and ready to explore the world without the aid of her parents and servants that took after everything she needed. The name of this adventurer was George, he went by the name of The General and they had a wonderful time with each other in the summer time, exploring the colours and joy of the carnival. Angelica had been hasty of men before The General, she was young and free and didn't want to be tested, but her pride and wealth were destroyed by the kindness of him. He was genuine to her, despite being a man of that era, and they lived a perfect summer. After discussing with her parents her true feelings, her parents agreed that this man was fit for marriage, they organised with him and his family a wealthy marriage and they were to live together for a long time. The General was called out for work often across the seas, and this caused tension in the relationship, Angelica became more proud and within herself, becoming independent when her husband went away. They became bitter towards each other but still loved each other, their bitterness fired each others soul, it was rare but something imperfectly perfect. Angelica missed him every time he went away, and was unaware that at some point, he would never return. One time while waiting for him to come back, she received a message from an official saying he became incredibly sick overseas, and died on his way back to Naples. It was safe to say Angelica was heartbroken, she felt lost and unsure of what to do with herself. She vowed to herself that no other man would take her heart and destroy it, despite it not being his fault, she didn't want her pride undone and her power wrecked again, so she decided that she would sell the only thing that was worth anything to any man now because of her new status as a widow, her body and beauty. A horrible fate, but she felt like this was the only way to redeem her reputation.

Present
During the play, Angelica is in the highest point of her career as a prostitute. She became famous to all the new cavaliers on the island, and since it was carnival season once again in Naples, it was immensely popular for lust of a beautiful woman to be wanted by many men of all different backgrounds and classes. Angelica and her only trusted friend, Moretta, have taken advantage of the Civil Wars banished cavaliers and in general a man's want for sex, and they live together, making business and making sure their pride is never shot down by any man. Angelica wants to enjoy carnival season like she did when she was younger, but is halted by the attachment she has to the time when she was younger. With her new servant Sebastian and Moretta eagerly wanting to enjoy the summer sun, she sucks it up and ventures out of her house occasionally. When in business hours, she comes across a group of banished men from England, one of them particularly catching her eye, a young war roughed man named Willmore. She invites Willmore into her chambers, and being shaken by his charms and how much he reminds her of her late husband, she falls for his sweet nothings. Willmore doesn't want Angelica for love, he wants her for lust, but the void in Angelica's heart has been growing bigger and bigger, and ever since falling for Willmore the void seems filled, she needs him like she breathes, this sudden let down in her pride is something strange and Moretta sees this, she tries to warn Angelica but fails and thus has to watch her closest friend fall victim to the curse of love once again. Angelica soon realises that Willmore is actually toying with her, as he is more serious about a "gypsy" he has met during the carnival, she becomes bitter and angry and realises the time she has wasted falling so quickly for something so worthless. She becomes mad with rage and decides on a revenge, she wants to kill the man because the void in her heart has become so consuming that she wants to destroy the thing that has dug a deeper hole. After Don Antonio, a close friend and heavy admirer of Angelica stops her from shooting Willmore, she decides to give him life and lead off. Don Antonio helps Angelica throughout this ordeal and becomes incredibly devoted to her well being.

Future
Although Moretta disagrees with Angelica's decision, she understand that Angelica does not want to carry on with her life as a prostitute. Moretta decides to resign with her, as Moretta has found someone worth while to spend her lust and time on. Angelica becomes closer with Don Antonio, they eventually get married and live a happier life together, Angelica, although not as deeply in love as she was with The General, is happy with Don Antonio and feels safe with him and his devotion and passion. She has not seen Willmore in a long time, and is grateful for it, her void has been healed slightly, and she feels safe enough to carry on with her life without the pride being a barrier and restriction.

Description of the Character
Every character has certain aspects about them such as costume, vocal aspects, posture, personality and motivation. A different actor might play this part different to me, but this is how I would portray my character in terms of description.

Costume
My costume for Angelica is a formal Georgian dress, although not Restoration period it was extremely close. It was pastel orange with tints of pink and green with pink lace arms, it showed Angelica's wealth and her independence. It was low cut and suited to her being a prostitute.

Vocal AspectsAngelica is an older woman so her voice definitely wouldn't be young and full of life, I decided to use my chest resonator for Angelica and speak with the deeper tones to my voice. As an actor, it has taken me a long time to master and get used to the idea of a deep voice and use the deeper tones I know I'm capable of, and after discovering the way to use my chest resonator with full effect, making sure I warmed up suitably for this voice stance, I explored the deeper tones to Angelica to add age to her character and formality. Speaking in a deeper tone made my characterisation more solid, it gave me purpose in my movements and gave my character a higher status.

PosturePosture as a lady in Restoration period is extremely important. She must always be proper and walk with a glide, especially Angelica because she is a prostitute and she has a product she needs to sell to the customers. It's all about advertisement with a women of her trade, but because of her education and wealth she is incredibly proper with the way she advertises herself. My back must be straight, when I sit down my legs must be sat neatly next to each other and not crossed, and I must sit on the edge of my seat alert. Women were very proper during this period of time, and it's important that they remained this way, at least until they were out of a man's sight.

 

Classical - The Rover - Research File

Research File for The Rover

As with every play there needs to be a decent amount of research put into it to understand the background, the history, the playwright and whatever else there is to a play of this standard. Restoration is such a huge place of history, with so much going into the style of satire and parody, it's a great theatre form that has unfortunately surpassed our time, but it lives on in the heart of all actors. There are various areas I have to research specifically for The Rover, and I will do this in the following document below.

The English Civil War

The English Civil War started in 1642 and finished in 1651. It was various episodes of political feuds and armed battles between Parliamentarians, nicknamed Roundheads, and Royalists who were commonly known as Cavaliers (Willmore and his crew of wits are known to be banished Cavaliers travelling from England). It took place in the Kingdom of England and it started and prolonged over the principal of the manner of the English government. "The first (1642–46) and second (1648–49) wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third (1649–51) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651. The overall outcome of the war was threefold: the trial and execution of Charles I; the exile of his son, Charles II; and the replacement of English monarchy with, at first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–53) and then the Protectorate (1653–59) under Oliver Cromwell's personal rule. The monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without Parliament's consent, although this concept was legally established only as part of the Glorious Revolution in 1688."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War

The Interregnum

The Interregnum was the period of time between the execution of Charles I on 30/1/1649 and the arrival of his son Charles II in London on 29/5/1660 that decided the start of the Restoration period, bringing a new era of theatre to the stage called Restoration theatre. During the Interregnum England was under various forms of republican government, "after the Parliamentarian victory in the Civil War, the Puritan views of the majority of Parliament and its supporters began to be imposed on the rest of the country. The Puritans advocated an austere lifestyle and restricted what they saw as the excesses of the previous regime. Most prominently, holidays such as Christmas and Easter were suppressed. Pastimes such as the theatre and gambling were also banned. However, some forms of art that were thought to be "virtuous", such as opera, were encouraged. These changes are often credited to Oliver Cromwell, though they were originally introduced by the Commonwealth Parliament; and Cromwell, when he came to power, was a liberalising influence."

The Interregnum was a short period of time but regardless a very important time in the history of the British Isles. "It saw a number of political experiments without any stable form of government emerging, largely due to the wide diversity in religious and political groups that had been allowed to flourish after the regicide of Charles I. The Puritan movement had evolved as a rejection of both real and perceived "Catholicisation" of the Church of England. When the Church of England was quickly disestablished by the Commonwealth Government, the question of what church to establish became a hotly debated subject. In the end, it was impossible to make all the political factions happy. During the Interregnum, Oliver Cromwell lost much of the support he had gained during the Civil War. Edward Sexby, previously a supporter of Cromwell's, felt disenfranchised by Cromwell's failure to abolish the aristocracy. In 1657, Silius Titus called for Cromwell's assassination in a co-authored pamphlet Killing No Murder under the pseudonym of William Allen. Sexby was captured when he returned to England and attempted to carry out the assassination described in Colonel Titus' book. Cromwell coerced Sexby into confessing authorship of the pamphlet and then imprisoned him in the Tower of London, where Sexby was driven to insanity, dying there less than a year later. High taxes required by the large standing army, kept due to the constant threats of Scottish and Irish rebellion, added to public resentment of Cromwell."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interregnum_(England)

Charles II

Charles II born on the 29 May 1630 and died on the 6 February 1685 was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the very peak of the English Civil War. Although the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II King of Great Britain and Ireland in Edinburgh on 6/2/1649, the English Parliament instead passed a statute that made any such proclamation unlawful. "England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, and the country was a de facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the United Provinces and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. During the 1640s, when Charles was still young, his father fought Parliamentary and Puritan forces in the English Civil War. Charles accompanied his father during the Battle of Edgehill and, at the age of fourteen, participated in the campaigns of 1645, when he was made titular commander of the English forces in the West Country.[3] By Spring 1646, his father was losing the war, and Charles left England due to fears for his safety, setting off from Falmouth after staying at Pendennis Castle, going first to the Isles of Scilly, then to Jersey, and finally to France, where his mother was already living in exile and his first cousin, eight-year-old Louis XIV, was king."

Charles II was popularly known as the Merry Monarch, this was caused by the reference to both the liveliness and hedonism of his court and the general relief at the return to normality after over a decade of rule by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans, he restored a calmness into the ruling over England, Ireland and Scotland. "Charles's wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. As his illegitimate children were excluded from the succession, he was succeeded by his brother James. The Restoration was accompanied by social change, theatres reopened after having been closed during the protectorship of Oliver Cromwell, and bawdy "Restoration comedy" became a recognisable genre. Theatre licenses granted by Charles were the first in England to permit women to play female roles on stage (they were previously played by boys) and Restoration literature celebrated or reacted to the restored court, which included libertines like John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England

Women on the Stage

1) Nell Gwyn.

Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn born on 2 February 1650 and died on 14 November 1687; was a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England and Scotland. Noted and commented as "pretty, witty Nell" by Samuel Pepys, she has been regarded as a living embodiment of the spirit of Restoration England and has come to be considered a folk heroine, a lot of people compare her to the likes of Cinderella, as she quickly went from poor to rich becoming one of Charles' mistresses. I wanted to use Nell Gwyn as a possible inspiration for Angelica, Angelica however already being born into a fairly wealthy lifestyle, did not gain her reputation of beauty and wit until she decided to become a mistress and prostitute. Perhaps a satire of Nell Gwyn but highly unlikely, still a great comparison and you can definitely see how Angelica was used to satire those in Gwyn's position perhaps. "She was the most famous Restoration actress and possessed a prodigious comic talent. Gwyn had two sons by King Charles: Charles Beauclerk (1670–1726), James Beauclerk (1671–1680). Charles was created Earl of Burford and later Duke of St. Albans."

The new theatres were the first in England to feature actresses; earlier, women's parts were played by boys or men. Gwyn joined the rank of actresses at Bridges Street when she was fourteen, less than a year after becoming an orange-girl. If strong clear voice, extremely good looks and lively wit were responsible for catching the eye of Killigrew, she still had to prove herself clever enough to succeed as an actress. This was no easy task in the Restoration theatre; the limited pool of audience members meant that very short runs were the norm for plays and fifty different productions might be mounted in the nine-month season lasting from September to June. "Gwyn was allegedly illiterate though unlikely due to the tremendous amount of lines she had to memorize. She often signed her initials as "E.G." She was taught her craft of performing at a school for young actors developed by Killigrew and one of the fine male actors of the time, Charles Hart, and learned dancing from another, John Lacy; both were rumored by satirists of the time to be her lovers, but if she had such a relationship with Lacy (Beauclerk thinks it unlikely), it was kept much more discreet than her well-known affair with Hart. Gwyn was slated to play a part in Killigrew's Thomaso, or The Wanderer in November 1664, but the play seems to have been cancelled. Instead, she made her first recorded appearance on-stage in March 1665, in John Dryden's heroic drama The Indian Emperour, playing Cydaria, daughter of Moctezuma and love interest to Cortez, played by her real-life lover Charles Hart. Pepys, whose diary usually has great things to say about Gwyn, was displeased with her performance in this same part two years later": "...to the King's playhouse, and there saw 'The Indian Emperour;' where I find Nell come again, which I am glad of; but was most infinitely displeased with her being put to act the Emperour's daughter; which is a great and serious part, which she do most basely."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nell_Gwyn

2) Elizabeth Barry
Elizabeth Barry born in 1658 (unknown official birth date) and died in 7 November 1713 was an English actress of the Restoration period, she was perhaps one of the most successful and definitely is one of the more famous first actresses known today. She worked in highly successful and huge London theatre companies throughout her lively career: from 1675 in the Duke's Company, 1682 – 1695 in the monopoly United Company, run by managers of the Duke's Company, and from "1695 onwards as a member of the actors' cooperative usually known as Betterton's Company, of which she was one of the original shareholders." Her stage career began 15 years after the first-ever professional actresses had replaced Shakespeare's boy heroines on the London stage. The actor Thomas Betterton said that her acting gave "success to plays that would disgust the most patient reader", and the critic and playwright John Dennis described her as "that incomparable Actress changing like Nature which she represents, from Passion to Passion, from Extream to Extream, with piercing Force and with easy Grace".

Barry worked for and performed in the Duke's Company from 1675 to 1682, taking the role of Cordelia opposite Thomas Betterton's Lear in Nahum Tate's 1681 adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear. After the Duke's and the King's companies were merged together in 1682, she continued as one of the star performers of the new United Company, which remained for 12 years the only theatrical company in London, so her crowds were huge and her success still as lively as ever. The absence of rival companies left the actors in a weak bargaining position in relation to management, and when the United Company fell under the mismanagement of Christopher Rich (theatre manager) in the 1690s, the senior actors including Barry, Betterton and Anne Bracegirdle left to form their own collaborative company. Barry was one of the original patent-holders of the actors' company, which opened at Lincoln's Inn Fields with the smash hit of William Congreve's Love For Love in 1695 and continued to successfully challenge Rich's United Company. Barry achieved remarkable public approval and business success for a single woman in London in the late 17th century, especially considering that she was generally known to have a daughter by Rochester and another by the playwright George Etherege. Many actresses at this time achieved the prize of respectability by being married, usually to actors, but Barry never married. She retired from the stage in 1709, marking the end of an amazing actress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barry

Restoration Playwrights

1) Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn baptised 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689 was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration, one of the first English professional female literary writers, a strong point in the research of our play, she as a woman would write female parts extremely different to men, and as the rise of strong and famous female actors was apparent in the Restoration period, she could write truthfully to the female sex. She is sometimes referred to as part of "The fair triumvirate of wit." According to a lot of sources, there isn't much known about Behn's life except for her work as an author and as a spy for the British crown, the rest is suggested by theories and her troubles with the economy, there is almost no documentary evidence of the details of her first 27 years. "She possibly spent time in Surinam, although much of her fiction has become entwined with her apocryphal biography." Facing debt and poverty Behn embarked on a writing career, producing over 19 plays, plus poetry, translation and novels, becoming a mark in the female history of today. Despite success in her own lifetime, Behn died in poverty. The overbearing topics of many of her plays apparently led to her "oeuvre being ignored or dismissed since her death. Her reputation slowly improved during the 20th century, but she is still little known to modern audiences."

Shortly after her supposed return to England from Surinam in 1664, Behn had supposedly married Johan Behn. Some suggest he may have been "a merchant of German or Dutch extraction, possibly from Hamburg." History is uncertain about Aphra's supposed lover, Aphra continuously struggled with economics and this may have been driven by the death of Johan or separation of their marriage soon after 1664 (both possible, has never been confirmed). In spite of this, from this point onward the writer used "Mrs Behn" as her professional name as a playwright. Behn may have had a Catholic upbringing. She once commented that she was "designed for a nun," (which I assume is how she knew so much about Hellena's position in the play, she could write from her own personal feelings and experiences, and the fact that she had so many Catholic connections, such as "Henry Neville who was later arrested for his Catholicism, would have aroused suspicions during the anti-Catholic fervour of the 1680s.") "She was a monarchist, and her sympathy for the Stuarts, and particularly for the Catholic Duke of York may be demonstrated by her dedication of her play The Rover II to him after he had been exiled for the second time. Behn was dedicated to the restored King Charles II." As more and more political parties started forming during the Restoration period, Behn had decided to become a Tory supporter. By 1666 Behn had become latched onto the court, ("possibly through the influence of Thomas Culpeper and other associates.") "The Second Anglo-Dutch War had broken out between England and the Netherlands in 1665, and she was recruited as a political spy in Antwerp on behalf of King Charles II, possibly under the auspices of courtier Thomas Killigrew." This is the first well-documented account that has been discovered of her activities apparently, and it is especially fascinating to see her experiences of undercover work and comparing it to the likes of Hellena in The Rover, even if her experiences were later dated than the play itself. "Her code name is said to have been Astrea, a name under which she later published many of her writings. Her chief role was to establish an intimacy with William Scot, son of Thomas Scot, a regicide who had been executed in 1660. Scot was believed to be ready to become a spy in the English service and to report on the doings of the English exiles who were plotting against the King. Behn arrived in Bruges in July 1666, probably with two others, as London was wracked with plague and fire. Behn's job was to turn Scot into a double agent, but there is evidence that Scot betrayed her to the Dutch."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphra_Behn

2) George Etherege

"Sir George Etherege was an English dramatist. He wrote the plays The Comical Revenge or, Love in a Tub in 1664, She Would if She Could in 1668, and The Man of Mode or, Sir Fopling Flutter in 1676. Soon after the Restoration in 1660 he composed his comedy of The Comical Revenge or Love in a Tub, which introduced him to Lord Buckhurst, afterwards the earl of Dorset. This was performed at the Duke's theatre in 1664, and a few copies were printed in the same year. It is partly in rhymed heroic verse, like the stilted tragedies of the Howards and Killigrew, but it contains comic scenes that are exceedingly bright and fresh. The sparring between Sir Frederick and the Widow introduced a style of wit hitherto unknown upon the English stage. The success of this play was very great, but Etherege waited four years before he repeated his experiment. Meanwhile he gained the highest reputation as a poetical beau, and moved in the circle of Sir Charles Sedley, Lord Rochester and the other noble wits of the day. His temperament is best known by the names his contemporaries gave him, of "gentle George" and "easy Etheredge." In 1668 he brought out She would if she could, a comedy full of action, wit and spirit, although by some thought to be frivolous and immoral. But in this play Etherege first shows himself a new power in literature. We move in an airy and fantastic world, where flirtation is the only serious business of life. At this time Etherege was living a life no less frivolous and unprincipled than those of his Courtals and Freemans. Etherege holds a distinguished place in English literature as one of the "big five" of Restoration comedy, inventing the comedy of manners and leading the way for the masterpieces of Congreve and Sheridan. Etherege's portraits of fops and beaux are considered to be the best of their kind, and he is now noted for his delicate touches of dress, furniture and scene, as well as vividly replicating in his work the fine airs of London gentlemen and ladies, perhaps better than Congreve. His biography was first written in detail by Edmund Gosse in Seventeenth Century Studies (1883)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Etherege

Original Patent Theatres

1) The Duke's Company
The Duke's Company was one of the two theatre companies (the other being the King's Company) that were supported and sponsored by King Charles II at the start of the English Restoration era, when the London theatres re-opened after their eighteen-year closure (1642–60) during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. The Duke's Company had a partnership with the King's younger brother the Duke of York, the future King James II, he was a sponsor and supporter of the Duke's Company. The company itself was managed by Sir William Davenant, and started at the old Salisbury Court Theatre, occasionally using the Cockpit in Drury Lane. "After a year, the actors moved to a new theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, a building on Portugal Street that had previously been Lisle's Tennis Court (it opened on 18 June 1661). There they were joined by Thomas Betterton, who quickly became their star. In December 1660, the King granted the Duke's Company the exclusive rights to ten Shakespearean plays: Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, Henry VIII, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre.[2] In 1661, their first year at Lincoln's Inn Fields, the company revived Hamlet, in a production that employed the innovation of stage scenery. Samuel Pepys saw their production on 24 August; he described it as "done with scenes very well, but above all, Betterton did the Prince's part beyond imagination." Davenant tried to make the most of the limited Shakespearean materials available to him. In 1662 he staged The Law Against Lovers, a heavily adapted version of Measure for Measure that blended in characters from Much Ado About Nothing. It was the earliest of the many Shakespearean adaptations produced during the Restoration era and the eighteenth century."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duke%27s_Company

2) The King's Company
The King's Company was one of two companies that produced theatre who were given the rights to perform theatrical productions in London at the start of the English Restoration, alongside the Duke's Company, these two companies were the most famous in their time period for performing Restoration period plays, this existed from 1660 to 1682. On 21/8/1660, King Charles II granted Thomas Killigrew and Sir William Davenant, leaders of two extraordinary companies of their time, each official granting in the form of a temporary "privilege" to form acting companies, becoming an example for future Restoration companies. "Killigrew's King's Company fell under the sponsorship of Charles himself; Davenant's Duke's Company under that of Charles's brother, then the Duke of York, later James II of England. The temporary privileges would be followed later by letters patent, issued on 25 April 1662 in Killigrew's case, cementing a hereditary monopoly on theatre for the patent-holders." The first official and continuing venue that would hold the King's Company as well as all of its productions was a venue called the Gibbon's Tennis Court; in 1663, responding to competition from the Duke's Company's more advanced theatre in Lisle's Tennis Court, Killigrew built and opened the King's Playhouse, today's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, which became a famous landmark for all new types of theatre, including the more popularly known theatre form called "Pantomime". This burned down in 1672 and was rebuilt and reopened in 1674. Killigrew left most of his interests in the company by the early 1670s and management was in his son Charles' hands after 1671. In 1682, the King's Company and the Duke's Company merged to become the so-called United Company, under the leadership of the Duke's Company's actors and other outstanding members.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Company