Dion Boucicault, London Assurance

Deirdre McFeely (Trinity College Dublin)

Ed. by Ian Campbell Ross, Trinity College Dublin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Grace Moore (University of Otago)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1841

Places

Ireland, Republic of (Eire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

Dion Boucicault’s biographer, Richard Fawkes, records how in early 1841 the playwright’s first stage success came about more by accident than by design. Boucicault, using the name Lee Moreton at that time, was only granted a meeting with Charles Mathews, the actor-manager of Covent Garden, when he was mistaken for another playwright. When instructed by Mathews that he needed “a good five-act comedy of modern life” (Fawkes, 1979, p. 33), Boucicault duly produced such a work thirty days later. The play was substantially rewritten during rehearsal, opening at Covent Garden on 4 March with Mathews playing Dazzle alongside his wife, Madame Vestris, in the role of Grace Harkaway. The initial advertisements did not carry the young …

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1221 words

Citation: McFeely, Deirdre. "London Assurance". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 February 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3906, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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