Farquhar, George

Farquhar, George (1678–1707), Irish-born dramatist who is usually classed among the writers of Restoration Comedy, though he stands a little apart from them, both chronologically and in showing more variety of plot and depth of feeling. He was for a short time an actor at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin, but went to London, where his first play Love and a Bottle (1698) was produced at Drury Lane. With his second, The Constant Couple; or, A Trip to the Jubilee (1699), he established himself as one of the foremost dramatists of the day. The play held the stage throughout the 18th century, the hero Sir Harry Wildair, first played by Wilks, being a favourite breeches part (see MALE IMPERSONATION) with Peg Woffington and Dorothy Jordan. A sequel, Sir Harry Wildair (1701), proved less successful, as did a revision of Beaumont and Fletcher's The Wild Goose Chase (1652) as The Inconstant; or, The Way to Win Him (1702), and two new farces, The Twin Rivals (1703) and The Stage Coach (1704). Having contracted a marriage with a penniless lady whom he believed to be an heiress, Farquhar left London for a time, but returned to the theatre with a fine comedy The Recruiting Officer (1706), based on his own experiences in that capacity in Shropshire. An immediate success, it was followed by his finest play The Beaux' Stratagem (1707). A realistic comedy with a wholesome, open-air humour, it was Farquhar's last play, written in six weeks while he was lying ill and penniless in mean lodgings. Both it and The Recruiting Officer are still revived. The latter, on which Brecht based his Pauken und Trompeten (1955), was seen at the Old Vic in 1963 with Olivier as Brazen; the former at the Old Vic in 1970 with Maggie Smith as Mrs Sullen, which was also one of Edith Evans's best parts.