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''David Garrick'' is a comic play written in 1864 by Thomas William Robertson about the famous 18th-century actor and theatre manager, David Garrick. The play premiered at the Prince of Wales Theater in Birmingham, where it was successful enough to be moved to the Haymarket Theatre in London, on 30 April 1864.〔Robertson, T. W. ''David Garrick: The Play and the Novel''〕 It was a major success for the actor Edward Askew Sothern, who played the title role, but came later to be associated with the actor Charles Wyndham. The play was designed as a star vehicle, since the principal actor has to portray David Garrick himself as an actor giving a performance. A scene from the play was painted by Edward Matthew Ward, a friend of Sothern's. The play was Robertson's first major commercial success and was frequently revived throughout the Victorian era and beyond. Several silent films were made based on ''David Garrick'', including versions in 1913 (starring Seymour Hicks and Ellaline Terriss), 1914 and 1916. A 1923 book, ''Public Speaking Today'', recommends it for performance by high school students alongside ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' and ''The Rivals''. In 1922, the play was adapted as a comic opera by Reginald Somerville and played at the Queen's Theatre.〔Parker, John. (''Who's Who in the Theatre: A Biographical Record of the Contemporary Stage" ), Small, Maynard & Company (5th Edition, 1925)〕 ==History== The play was evidently written in 1856, after Robertson saw a French theatre troupe performing ''Sullivan''; but the new play was rejected by every theatre manager Robertson took it to. He sat on it for many years, then eventually showed it to Sothern, who took interest in the project. Reportedly, as Sothern read the play aloud to his manager John Buckstone –
After some revisions at Sothern's request, Robertson was able to sell the play for a sum of £10.〔''Famous Actor Families in America'', by Montrose Jonas Moses〕 Robertson's story of Garrick has very little to do with fact: among other things, it ends with Garrick presumably married to a woman named Ada Ingot—Garrick's real wife was Eva Marie Veigel. Robertson was quoted as saying, in response to critics of this historical inaccuracy, "The real, actual Mr. David Garrick was not married until the year 1749. Whatever adventures may have occurred to him before that time are a legitimate theme for speculation." He then suggests that Ada and Garrick could have been prevented from marrying by death, break-up or other external factors, and thus his story would not be contradictory to history. The story is, according to the title page of most printed versions, "Adapted from the French of ''Sullivan'', which was founded on a German Dramatization of a pretended Incident in Garrick's Life." ''Sullivan'' was a French comic play of 1852 by Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélésville, which Adams' ''Dictionary of Drama'' claims to have been based on J. Bouchardy's 1836 short story ''Garrick Médecin.'' The confusion with the "German dramatization" appears to be thus – ''Garrick Médecin'' was adapted into another French play entitled ''Le Docteur Robin'', which became widely known through a German translation. A misunderstanding caused the belief that ''Sullivan'' was actually based on ''Doktor Robin'' rather than the two being based on a mutual source, as evidenced in one Oct. 1895 New York Times Article. Another German play, ''Garrick in Bristol'', added to the confusion.〔"Sir Charles Wyndham: A Biography" by T. Edgar Pemberton〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「David Garrick (play)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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