“WILMINGTON”
GOVERNOR TRYON:
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances." Shakespeare, you know. Never goes out of fashion.
JAMIE FRASER:
Aye, but it's not Shakespeare we're seeing tonight, Your Excellency.
What Governor Tryon says here - that the play was written by a native son of Wilmington - is true. The play Jamie and Claire are about to see, "The Prince of Parthia", was written by Thomas Godfrey, a resident of Wilmington, NC, in 1765. It is the first play to be written by a Colonial American and produced in the colonies.
From Wikipedia:
“The Prince of Parthia” is a Neo-Classical tragedy by Thomas Godfrey and was the first stage play written by an American to be presented in the United States by a professional cast of actors, on April 24, 1767. It was first published in 1765. It is set in the Parthian Empire in the 1st century A.D. during the Arsacid dynasty.
It mostly follows the unities of time (happens in a short amount of time, usually 24 hours), place (happens in one place) and plot (one or few plot lines). It also has a five-act structure, and most of the characters follow decorum. However, with verisimilitude (or, the appearance of truth), the play is lacking. The idea that the entire plot line could happen within 24 to 48 hours is astonishing.
In the first act, Phraates, an officer at court, and Gotarzes, a prince, discuss Prince Arsaces’ triumphal return from foreign wars. But there is trouble at home. Vardanes, the brother of Gotarzes and Arsaces, is jealous of Arsaces' marital successes.Thermusa, Arsaces’ stepmother and the Queen of Parthia, wants to avenge her son Vonones who was killed by Arsaces for treason. Vardanes and his officer, Lysias, decide to use Thermusa’s vengeance to destroy Arsaces. Meanwhile, Evanthe, whose father, King Bethas, has been imprisoned, is in love with Arsaces. But Artabanus, the King of Parthia, has illicit feelings for Evanthe.
My head is hurting just from reading the synopsis! But if you want to learn more about the play, click here.
What splendid robes.
LYSIAS:
Thank you, sir.
Ambient air, and weary gracious heaven with ceaseless bellows?
MAN:
Your ceaseless bellowings.
LYSIAS:
Vardanes sounds with equal harmony, and suits as well the loud repeated shouts of noisy joy.
Can he bid Chaos Nature's rule dissolve?
MAN:
I know what's going to happen.
LYSIAS:
Can he deprive mankind of light and day, and turn the seasons from their destined course? - Such poetry.
MAN:
What poetry? Say, can he do all this and be a god?
Thankfully, the script spares any more samplings!
BC\nU!
BC\nU!
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