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comedy
comedy literary work that aims primarily to provoke laughter. Unlike tragedy , which seeks to engage profound emotions and sympathies, comedy strives to entertain chiefly through criticism and ridicule of man's customs and institutions.
Although usually used in reference to the drama (see dr...
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William Congreve
William Congreve 1670-1729, English dramatist, b. near Leeds, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and studied law in the Middle Temple. After publishing a novel of intrigue, Incognita (1692), and translations of Juvenal and Persius (1693), he turned to writing for the stage. His first comedy, T...
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Sir George Etherege
Sir George Etherege , 1636-1692, English dramatist. His witty, licentious comedies— The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub (1664) and She Wou'd If She Cou'd (1668)—set the tone of the Restoration comedy of manners that Congreve was to continue. His last play, The Man of Mode (1676),...
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George Farquhar
George Farquhar , 1678-1707, Irish dramatist, b. Londonderry (now Derry), Ireland. After his short career as an actor ended when he severely wounded a fellow actor in a stage duel, he wrote (1698) his first comedy, Love and a Bottle. His next play, The Constant Couple (1699), established his rep...
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Lewis Hallam
Lewis Hallam , c.1714-1756, Anglo-American actor and manager of the first professional theatrical company in the United States. He arrived from England with his company in 1752 and opened at Williamsburg, Va., with Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. In 1753 he built the first theater in New York Ci...
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Sir William D'Avenant
Sir William D'Avenant , 1606-68, English poet, playwright, and theatrical producer. His life and work bridge the gap between the Elizabethan and Restoration ages. His best plays appeared between 1634 and 1639. They include The Wits, a realistic comedy; The Platonic Lovers, a romantic comedy of m...
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Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber , 1671-1757, English dramatist and actor-manager. Joining the company at the Theatre Royal in 1690, Cibber became successful as a comedian, playing the fops of Restoration comedy. His first play, Love's Last Shift (1696), is a landmark in the history of the theater and is regarded as...
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Epicharmus
Epicharmus , c.550-c.460 BC, Sicilian Greek comic dramatist. He was the first to write a coherent artistic comedy, and he dealt with forms other than personal satire such as mythological burlesque.
Bibliography: See A. W. Pickard-Cambridge, Dithyramb, Tragedy, and Comedy (1927, repr. 1962).
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Thomas Killigrew
Thomas Killigrew , 1612-83, English dramatist and theater manager, b. London. Before the closing of the theaters by the Puritans in 1642, he wrote several tragicomedies, including The Prisoners and Claracilla. His most popular play was the coarse comedy The Parson's Wedding (1637). In 1647 he ...
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Isaac Bickerstaffe
Isaac Bickerstaffe c.1735-c.1812, English dramatist, b. Ireland. Included among his comedies and ballad operas are The Maid of the Mill (produced in 1765) and The Padlock (produced in 1768).
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