Product Description

This is a new addition to the popular "Drama Classics" published alongside major revival at National Theatre directed by Nicholas Hytner. "The Man of Mode" - first staged in 1676 - is perhaps the most typical 'Restoration Comedy', containing as it does all the classic ingredients: adultery, intrigue, gossip - and the first and greatest of the Restoration fops, Sir Fopling Flutter, a part still guaranteed to bring the house down. This new "Drama Classics" edition, prepared by Trevor Griffiths of the University of North London, is published alongside a high-profile revival of "The Man of Mode" at the National Theatre, staged by the Artisitic Director, Nicholas Hytner, in February 2007. Casting, yet to be announced, is bound to be stellar...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #130600 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

About the Author
Sir George Etherege (1636-92) was born in Maidenhead, went to Cambridge, possibly had a child by the actress Elizabeth Barry, wrote the first Restoration Comedy (The Comical Revenge, 1664), became a career diplomat, was knighted in 1679 and died in Paris. Playwriting was very much merely a hobby.

Customer Reviews

A Good Play
If you have read The Libertine then you will be familiar with the mention in it of Etherege's play. There have been some who always have said that Dorimant the rake in this play is based on John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, but there is no evidence of this, and when this play was first performed some thought it was another well known rake. There is no evidence that any one libertine was used solely for Dorimant, and it is likely that he is a composite of those around at the time.

When this play was first performed it was a great sucess but alas nowadays it is commonally shied away from, probably due to its being a product of its time, although the comedy is still good. You have Dorimant the rake who wants to get rid of his present lover for someone else. You have Sir Fopling Flutter who has just returned from the continent telling eveyone what a sucess he was in Paris, and wearing all the latest fashions who wants to become like Dorimant. Old Bellair wants his son to marry the woman he has decided upon for him, but Young Bellair has other ideas. Old Bellair falls for his son's choice of woman, and wishes to have her for himself.

With this going on Young Bellair and the woman that his father has picked for him put on a display of courtship that alone makes this play well worth reading. This may have aged but it is still funny and enjoyable to read, definitely a very good Restoration Comedy. Admittedly some of the puns will be missed that were so funny at the time, especially as the Court thought they recognised who the characters were based on but on the whole this is still very accessible.

As with all New Mermaid editions this comes with a comprehensive introduction on the play and the author, as well as containing copious notes and appendices.