The Druriad : or, Strictures on the principal performers of Drury-Lane Theatre…
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The Druriad by Anonymous is a satirical poem with critical and explanatory notes, written in the late 18th century. It is a work of theatrical criticism centered on the performers of Drury-Lane Theatre. The likely topic is a spirited survey that celebrates outstanding actors while satirizing weak ones, lamenting declining taste, and urging higher standards on the English stage. An opening advertisement claims the theatre shapes public morals and warns that laxity
has dimmed acting, setting a mission to praise merit and ridicule mediocrity. The poem, cast as a dialogue between an Author and a Friend, shifts from a playful debate about poetic fashions to a pointed tour of Drury’s company. It exalts Mrs Siddons for tragic mastery, Kemble for commanding Shakespearean roles, Miss Decamp for versatile brilliance, Mrs Pope and Mr King for comic truth, and Charles Kemble as a rising hope, while censuring others for bombast, miscasting, or coarse buffoonery, and rebuking managers for poor distribution of parts. Brief portraits touch many figures—Jordan, Powell, Palmer, Bannister, Suett, Barrymore, Goodall, Wathen, Kelly, and more—balancing flashes of praise with sharper rebuke. The extensive notes amplify the judgments, attack fashionable playwrights and pantomimes, defend serious drama, and call for renewed reverence for Shakespeare. The work closes with a plea for a poet to rekindle Shakespeare’s spirit and restore dignity and taste to the stage. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Anonymous |
|---|---|
| Title | The Druriad : or, Strictures on the principal performers of Drury-Lane Theatre : a satirical poem : with notes critical and explanatory |
| Original Publication | London: W. J. and J. Richardson, 1798. |
| Credits | Mairi, Raymond Papworth, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections |
| Subject | Verse satire, English -- Early works to 1800 |
| Subject | Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (London, England) -- Poetry |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77394 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-77394-0 |
| Release Date | Dec 3, 2025 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 291 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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