Thomas Jevon

Thomas Jevon (1652-1688) was an English playwright, and one of the first English Harlequins. He began his career as a dancing master, but worked his way onto the stage, and played leading low-comedy parts in London between 1673 and 1688. His brother-in-law was the English playwright and poet laureate Thomas Shadwell.

His only published play, the farce "The Devil of a Wife, or, a Comical Transformation" (with a plot borrowed from a Philip Sidney story, and possibly some assistance from Shadwell), was performed in 1686 at Dorset Garden, where Jevon usually acted. Jevon and George Powell played the two leading roles, and the piece achieved great success. Various versions with added music appeared later, and Charles Coffey used it as the basis of his opera "The Devil to Pay" in 1731.

References

* cite book
publisher = Oxford University Press
editor = Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee
year = 1917
title = The Dictionary of National Biography
location = London
* cite book
publisher = Oxford University Press
editor = Phyllis Hartnoll
year = 1975
title = The Oxford Companion to the Theatre
location = London
id = ISBN 0-19-211531-6