The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar

The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar

George Farquhar (1678-1707) wrote some of the most exhilarating comedies in English, recording with great frankness the brutality and disorder of his age as well as its wit and vivacity. This modern spelling edition of four of the least formal and most actable Restoration comedies discloses the brutal, witty, and vigorously comic world in which Farquhar lived. Complete with an intorduction and full notes, this volume includes The Constant Couple, The Twin Rivals, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux' stratagem. All challenge many preconceptions about class, marriage, and the sexual politics of the early eighteenth century.

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.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780192834508
ISBN 10	0192834509
Title	The Recruiting Officer
Author	George Farquhar
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2000-02-01
Number of pages	428
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable