Lewis Theobald, Double Falsehood, or The Distressed Lovers

Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne)

Ed. by Neil Forsyth, Université de Lausanne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication Dec 1727

Places

England (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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Lewis Theobald staged a play on 13 December 1727 entitled

Double Falsehood, or The Distressed Lovers.

It was announced in the press that Theobald had “at a considerable Expence, Purchased the Manuscript Copy of an Original Play of William Shakespeare” and had “with great Labour and Pains, Revised, and Adapted the same to the Stage”. It had an initial run of ten successive performances and was then published early in 1728. Theobald immediately sold the rights to the publisher, John Watts, for 100 guineas, a very high sum. The Shakespeare play he claimed to be adapting was the lost

Cardenio.

Theobald’s play has recently been included, for the first time ever, in the Arden Shakespeare series, edited by Brean Hammond.

Theobald had given up the law to pursue a career on the literary

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1040 words

Citation: Forsyth, Neil. "Double Falsehood, or The Distressed Lovers". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 May 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=33192, accessed 29 April 2024.]

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