Event Comment: The
Duke's Company. This performance is on the
L. C. list, 5@141, p. 2. See also
Nicoll, Restoration Drama, p. 347. This performance may well be the premiere. In the Preface the author states that the play was asked for on
Shrove Tuesday and he wrote it within a week; a premiere, then, before this date would allow very little time for rehearsal. This play is certainly a "Lenten" performance, for it was acted on a Wednesday in
Lent and was referred to in the Prologue as a "Lenten Play." See the discussion under
The Spanish Rogue (March 1673)
and Gray, pp. 785-86. See also
J. G. McManaway, The Copy for
The Careless Lovers,"
MLN, XLVI (1931), 406-9. Preface to the edition of 1673: [This play] was written at the Desire of the Young Men of the Stage,
and given them for a Lenten-Play, they ask't it not above a Week before Shrove-Tuesday
Performances
Mainpiece Title: The Careless Lovers
Performance Comment: Edition of 1673: Mr Machworth-Norrice; Mr Lovell-Cademan; Mr Careless-Smith; De Boastado-Angell; Toby-Sherwood; Jacinta-Mrs Burroughs; Hillaria-Mrs Clough; Beatrice-Mrs Leigh; Mrs Clappam-Mrs Osborn; Mrs Breedwell-Mrs Norris; Epilogue by Mr Settle-.