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''The Duchess of Padua'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. It is a five-act melodramatic tragedy set in Padua and written in blank verse. It was written for the actress Mary Anderson in early 1883 while in Paris. After she turned it down, it was abandoned until its first performance at the Broadway Theatre in New York under the title ''Guido Ferranti'' on 26 January 1891, where it ran for three weeks. It has been rarely revived or studied. ==Production history== Wilde first mentioned the possibility of writing a five-act blank verse tragedy in the ''Biograph'' in 1880, originally to be entitled ''The Duchess of Florence''.〔Ellerman, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Penguin Books, 1987, p. 144〕 Wilde was strongly influenced by ''Lucrezia Borgia'' (1833) and ''Angelo, Tyrant of Padua'' (1835), two Italian-set historical plays by Victor Hugo.〔Kohl, Norbert. ''Oscar Wilde: The Works of a Conformist Rebel''. Cambridge University Press, 2011 p.46〕 Wilde originally wanted Mary Anderson for the title role: "I cannot write the scenario until see you and talk to you. All good plays are a combination of the dream of a poet and that practical knowledge of the actor which gives concentration to the action...I want you to rank with the great actresses of the earth...having in you a faith which is as flawless as it is fervent I doubt not for a moment that I can and will write for you a play which, created for you and inspired by you, shall give you the glory of a Rachel, and may yield me the fame of a Hugo."〔Ellerman, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Penguin Books, 1987, p.198〕 He had difficulty, however, negotiating with her business manager and stepfather, Hamilton Griffin, whom Wilde referred to privately as "The Griffin" and "a padded horror".〔Letters to Steel Mackaye in Percy Mackaye, ''Epoch: The Life of Steel Mackaye'' (NY, 1927), 444, 445-6; originally found in Ellerman, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Penguin Books, 1987, p.198〕 On 23 September 1882, all three met in Boston and agreed to open on 22 January 1883. In October, Wilde learnt they had decided to wait until September. Finally, a contract was signed in December - Wilde received £1,000 upfront, and £4,000 if the completed play was accepted by Anderson in March 1883, which she would then produce.〔Ellerman, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Penguin Books, 1987, p.199〕 This was far less than the £5,000 advance and royalty that Wilde had initially hoped for, describing the deal he got as "starvation wages".〔Edgar Saltus, ''Oscar Wilde, An Idler's Impressions (Chicago, 1917), 14-15; Lewis and Smith, 410; found in Ellerman, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Penguin Books, 1987, p.199〕 Wilde finished the play at the Hotel Voltaire in Paris〔Ellerman, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Penguin Books, 1987, p. 202〕 by 15 March 1883, 14 days after Griffin's deadline. However, Anderson proved hard to communicate with, and provided a definite refusal in April.〔Ellerman, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Penguin Books, 1987, p. 210〕 The play was unexpectedly rediscovered by American actor Lawrence Barrett in 1889, who contacted Wilde about producing it. Wilde agreed to meet him in July to discuss the play, writing he was "very glad to make any alterations in it you can suggest".〔Ellerman, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Penguin Books, 1987, p.313〕 Among these changes Barrett suggested was the new title ''Guido Ferranti'', named after the lead hero rather than heroine, under which he claimed it would have greater success. He also requested that Wilde's name not be attached to the play after the failure of ''Vera; or, The Nihilists'', although this did not deceive the ''New York Tribune'' who correctly identified the author in their review, after which it was advertised as "Oscar Wilde's Love Tragedy".〔Ellerman, Richard. ''Oscar Wilde''. Penguin Books, 1987, p. 314〕 The play was first produced in January 1891 in New York, with Barrett in the role of Ferranti and Minna K. Gale as the Duchess of Padua. It ran for twenty-one performances〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bibliography of Oscar Wilde (Open Library) )〕 over three weeks until stopped by Barrett. Wilde sought to produce a second run of the play in London, but was refused by both Henry Irving and George Alexander. It was not produced in England until 1907, for copyright purposes;〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bibliography of Oscar Wilde (Open Library) )〕 after which it was not performed there again until 2010.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Critic as Critic )〕 It was also performed twice in Germany, in 1904 and 1906.〔 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「The Duchess of Padua」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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