was the fourth play Gay wrote and the second, after
The What D'Ye Call It(see separate entry), to meet with any significant degree of success, playing to packed houses for seven successive nights, the largest number of consecutive performances at Drury Lane that season, after its first performance on 16 January 1717. It then ran into critical hostility for its alleged obscenity and vindictiveness and was withdrawn by the theatre's management virtually to disappear from the stage for almost 280 years until the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival at Stratford in May 1996. The play grew out of the meetings of the Scriblerus Club (Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Dr John Arbuthnot, Thomas Parnell and Gay) in the spring of 1714, and in particular Gay's friendship…
1861 words
Citation: Gordon, Ian. "Three Hours After Marriage". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8322, accessed 13 December 2024.]