Theatre and Playwrights Through the Ages

Restoration Theatre and Playwrights

• The Relapse, a comedy of manners, was written by John Vanbrugh and first performed in 1696.
• William Congreve was a prominent Restoration playwright, known for his works such as The Way of the World (1700), Love for Love (1695), and The Old Bachelor (1693).

Adaptations and Influences

• John Dryden's All for Love (1677) is an adaptation of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.
• The Jew of Malta features a Machiavellian hero.

20th-Century American Theatre

• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee, first performed in 1962 and winner of the Tony Award for Best Play.
• Imamu Amiri Baraka was an American playwright and poet, associated with the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, and founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School in Harlem.

Death of a Salesman and Restoration Comedy

• Willy Loman is a character in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
• Restoration comedy flourished between 1660-1710, with pioneer Sir George Etherege, known for his masterpiece "The Comical Revenge or Love in a Tub".
• Other notable Restoration comedy writers include William Congreve, John Dryden, and Richard Sheridan.