The Fashionable Lady

The Fashionable Lady
Written by	James Ralph
Date premiered	2 April 1730[1]
Place premiered	Goodman's Fields Theatre
Original language	English
Genre	Comedy

The Fashionable Lady is a 1730 comedy play by James Ralph.

It premiered at the Goodman's Fields Theatre in Whitechapel with a cast that included William Giffard as Meanwell, James Lacy as Drama, Thomas Smith as Whim and Anna Marcella Giffard as Mrs Sprightly. The play has been described as "a hyperbolic take-off on The Beggar's Opera." ^[2] It was a moderate success and poked fun at the sorry state of English drama, uncritical acceptance of Italian opera, and the stupidity of theater managers.^[3]

References

1. Burling p.134
2. McKinsey, Elizabeth R. (16 February 1973). "James Ralph: The Professional Writer Comes of Age". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 117 (1): 67. JSTOR 985948. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
3. Kenny, Robert (1 April 1940). "James Ralph: An Eighteenth Century Philadelpian on Grub Street". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 64 (2): 222. JSTOR 20087279. Retrieved 15 September 2021.

Bibliography

• Burling, William J. A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992.
• Nicoll, Allardyce. A History of Early Eighteenth Century Drama: 1700-1750. CUP Archive, 1927.