Mariana Starke

Terry F. Robinson (University of Colorado at Boulder)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Born in India to Mary and Richard Starke, the governor of the British East India Company's Fort St. George in Madras (now known as Chennai), Mariana Starke spent her early years in southeast India, absorbing Anglo-Indian life and culture before relocating with her family to Epsom, Surrey. Starke's experiences in India would color her later dramatic productions, including her first play, a sentimental comedy entitled

The Sword of Peace, or a Voyage of Love

, which opened at the Haymarket Theatre, London, on 9 August 1788 and enjoyed a run of six performances. Her next production, a tragedy called

The Widow of Malabar

— an adaptation of Antoine Marin Le Mierre's

La Veuve du Malabar

(1770) — was slightly more successful. Starke saw it first performed in 1790 at Mary Champion de…

614 words

Citation: Robinson, Terry F.. "Mariana Starke". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11984, accessed 19 March 2024.]

11984 Mariana Starke 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.