Nathaniel Lee

Nathaniel Lee 1653-92, English dramatist. After failing as an actor, he turned to writing plays. Lee confined himself entirely to tragedy, turning often to the classical historians for the background of his plays. His most famous work, the blank-verse tragedy The Rival Queens (produced in 1677), deals with the jealousy between the wives of Alexander the Great. His plays, which were extremely popular in his time, are marked by bombast and extravagance.

Lee, Nathaniel (?1649–92), a failed actor turned playwright, whose tragedies, marked by extravagance and passion, were long popular. They include Nero (1675), Sophonisba and Gloriana (1676), all in heroics; and his best-known tragedy, The Rival Queens (1677), in blank verse based on the Cassandre of La Calprenède. He collaborated with Dryden in Oedipus (1679) and The Duke of Guise (1682). He lost his reason, and was confined to Bedlam 1684–9. (See Heroic Drama.)

Lee, Nathaniel (c.1653–92), English dramatist, author of a number of tragedies on subjects taken from ancient history, of which the best and most successful was The Rival Queens; or, The Death of Alexander the Great (1677), dealing with the jealousy of Alexander's wives Roxana and Statira. It owed much of its initial success to the acting of Betterton and Mrs Barry, and held the stage for over 100 years, being in the repertory of John Philip Kemble, Edmund Kean, and Mrs Siddons. Lee, who collaborated with Dryden in The Duke of Guise (1682), was one of the most popular dramatists of his day and his plays were frequently revived and reprinted. Their ranting verse and plots, which left the stage encumbered with corpses or lunatics, betrayed, however, a streak of insanity which led to his being confined in Bedlam where he died.