Restoration Women's Drama
Four Plays, 1662-1677 Volume 114
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Restoration Women's Drama collects four Restoration plays by women: the highly acclaimed Katherine Philips, the successful professional Aphra Behn, the confidently original Margaret Cavendish, and the obscure pioneer Frances Boothby. This anthology includes Behn's only tragedy as well as the first printed edition of Boothby's Marcelia, the first play by a woman to be professionally staged in London, demonstrating the range of early modern drama produced by women in this period. An excellent introduction, it is poised to stimulate new discussions of women's authorship, theatrical knowledge, and literary affinities. Each play has been edited afresh, and each has been modernized and annotated to facilitate reading, teaching, and performance possibilities.
Frances Boothby
Frances Boothby is known only by her play, Marcelia, and by a poem lamenting its apparent lack of success on the stage. However, Marcelia displays high levels of theatrical skill, and in 1669 her play was the first professional production by a woman on the London stage.
Katherine Philips
Katherine Philips (1632-64) was a celebrated writer in her own time, a central figure in a literary coterie who was known by her coterie name Orinda. Her poetry ranged from poems addressed to her close female friends to those expressing her royalist sympathies. Pompey, her translation of Pierre Corneille's La Mort de Pompée, was supported by prominent political figures in Ireland and successfully produced in Dublin. It was published in both Dublin and London and was featured in the posthumously published folio edition of her works.
More by Katherine Philips
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