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''The Playhouse to be Let'' is a Restoration stage play, a dramatic anthology of short pieces by Sir William Davenant that was acted in August 1663 at the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and first published in the 1673 collected edition of Davenant's works. ''The Playhouse to Be Let'' is noteworthy for providing the first English translation of a play by Molière.〔John Wilcox, ''The Relation of Molière to Restoration Comedy'', New York, Columbia University Press, 1938; pp. 127-8.〕 ==Form and content== Regarding this anthology, the early critic Gerard Langbaine wrote, "I know not under what Species to place this Play, it consisting of several Pieces of different Kinds handsomely tackt together...."〔Gerard Langbaine, ''An Account of the English Dramatick Poets'', London, 1691, pp. 99-100; quoted in Wilcox.〕 Davenant exploited the standard five-Act structure of drama in his era to link five separate short plays, both newly written and previously existent: * Act I provides an Introduction to the items that follow, in which four troupes of actors audition to fill a vacant theatre; * Act II is a condensation of Molière's 1660 one-act play ''Sganarelle'', translated into French-accented broken English; * Act III is Davenant's 1659 "operatic tableau" ''The History of Sir Francis Drake''; * Act IV is Davenant's similar 1658 work ''The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru''; * Act V is the "Tragedy Travestie," a burlesque of traditional tragedy, involving Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, and Cleopatra. The material in Act I provides a detailed view of a theatre manager interacting with actors, that throws light upon the theatrical conditions of Davenant's day.〔Dane Fransworth Smith, ''Plays about the Theatre in England from The Reheasral in 1671 to the Licensing Act in 1737'', London, Oxford University Press, 1936; pp. 7 and ff.〕 The anthology's blend of serious and comic works has caused critics to wonder about authorial intent, and even authorial identity. 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 Playhouse to Be Let」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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