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Title Knave or Not
Author Holcroft, Thomas  
Date 06 Jan 1798
Licence Application Date 06 Jan 1798
First Performance Date 25 Jan 1798
Document Type Play  Prologue  Epilogue  
Library/Archive The Huntington Library  
Collection Name John Larpent Plays
Reference LA1192
Language English
Document Description A play which is said to have been a critique of the repressive cultural climate in late nineteenth century Britain.
Theme Censorship & Politics  Courtship, Family & Domestic Life  
Theatre Theatre Royal Drury Lane  
Theatre Manager Wroughton, Richard  
Lord Chamberlain Cecil, James (1st Marquess of Salisbury)  
Examiner at time of Licence Application Larpent, John  
Genre Comedy  
Acts Five  
Printed Edition Printed 1798.
Keywords comedy  prologue  epilogue  satire  contemporary events  politics  love  marriage  family  
Additional Information Manuscript dated by Larpent Jan. 8 and includes a note from Wroughton, dated stating that the "suggested alteration has been made." Another note, Salisbury to Larpent, May 17, 1798, apparently referring to LA 212, states "if the Plot appears to you to have the same Tendency as Knave or Not which you mentioned in a former Letter, you must not allow the Play to be performed." Also includes a prologue and epilogue. Compared to the printed version, there are slight differences. According to John Payne Collier in Biographia Dramatica, "there was some difficulty in obtaining a licence for it and Larpent (as appears by letters among Larpent's papers) referred the matter to Lord Salisbury -- It was finally allowed with various alterations made in the manuscript sent to Larpent by R Wroughton the then Manager of Drury Lane."
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