Three Hours After Marriage

rdf:langString Three Hours After Marriage

rdf:langString Three Hours After Marriage

rdf:langString Three Hours After Marriage

rdf:langString Comedy

rdf:langString English

rdf:langString Alexander Pope

rdf:langString John Arbuthnot

rdf:langString Three Hours After Marriage was a restoration comedy, written in 1717 as a collaboration between John Gay, Alexander Pope and John Arbuthnot, though Gay was the principal author. The play is best described as a satirical farce, and among its satirical targets was Richard Blackmore. Three Hours After Marriage tells the story of Doctor Fossil, a pompous ageing scientist, who has just married a much younger woman, Mrs Townley who is then immediately beset by two rival suitors who try to win her affections. The wife and suitors then go to comical lengths to hide their intentions from Dr Fossil. The plot is complicated by the presence of a female poet Phoebe Clinket and Sir Tremendous, a literary critic. It premiered on 16 January 1717 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The cast included Benjamin Johnson as Doctor Fossil, Anne Oldfield as Mrs Townley, Margaret Bicknell as Phoebe Clinket, Colley Cibber as Plotwell, William Penkethman as Underplot, as Possum, Elizabeth Willis as Prue, Thomas Walker as the First Actor, James Quin as the Second Actor and John Bowman as Sir Tremendous. It is likely that two of the targets of the play's satire; John Woodward as Doctor Fossil and John Dennis as Sir Tremendous, would have been recognisable to London audiences due to their known hostility to Gay, Pope and the Scriblerus Club.