List of early-modern women playwrights (UK)

This is a chronological list of women playwrights who were active in the United Kingdom before approximately 1800, with a brief indication of productivity. (NB. Drama is the focus of this list, though many of these writers worked in more than one genre.)

Playwrights

* Jane Lumley (1537–1578): first translator of Euripides into English
* Mary Sidney Herbert (1561–1621): translated one play
* Elizabeth Cary (1585-1639): wrote the first original play in English by a woman
* Mary Wroth (1587–1652): primarily a poet; one drama extant
* Jane Cavendish (1620/21–1669): co-authored a pastoral masque with her sister, Elizabeth Egerton
* Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673): author of closet dramas
* Elizabeth Egerton (1626–1663): co-authored a pastoral masque with her sister, Jane Cavendish
* Katherine Philips (1631-1664): mainly a poet; author of two plays (one unfinished)
* Aphra Behn (1640-1689): highly successful playwright
* Elizabeth Polwheele (ca. 1651-ca. 1691): two plays extant
* Anne Finch (1661–1720): primarily a poet; author of verse dramas
* Frances Boothby (fl. 1669–1670): author of the first original play by a woman to be produced in London
* Delarivier Manley (1663 or ca. 1670-1724): successful playwright
* Mary Pix (1666-1709): successful playwright
* Susannah Centlivre (ca. 1667-1723): highly successful playwright
* Mary Davys (1674-1732): novelist; produced one play; had another published
* Penelope Aubin (ca. 1679–ca. 1731): primarily a novelist; had one play produced
* Catherine Trotter (1679-1749): successful playwright
* Jane Wiseman (fl. ca. 1682–1717): author of one successfully produced play
* Mary Wortley Montagu (ca. 1689-1762): wrote primarily in other genres
* Eliza Haywood (1693-1756): successful as a playwright; wrote primarily in other genres
* Catherine Clive (1711–1785): highly successful actress; wrote farces with some success
* Charlotte Charke (1713-1760): playwright/actress/manager
* Charlotte Lennox (1720-1804): wrote primarily in other genres; two plays (one an adaptation)
* Frances Brooke (1723-1789): primarily a novelist; successful with comic opera
* Frances Sheridan (1724-1766): successful playwright
* Elizabeth Griffith (ca. 1727-1793): successful playwright
* Charlotte Lennox (ca. 1727-1804): limited success as playwright; primarily a novelist
* Dorothea Celesia (bap. 1738, d. 1790): translated Voltaire's "Tancrède"
* Hannah Cowley (1743-1809): successful playwright and poet
* Hannah More (1745-1833): successful as a playwright; published in many genres
* Mary Bowes (1749–1800): published one play
* Charlotte Smith (1749-1806): novelist and poet; one comedy attributed to her
* Elizabeth Craven (1750-1828): limited success as a writer of light plays
* Sophia Lee (1750–1824): successful playwright.
* Frances Burney (1752-1840): primarily a novelist; author of several plays, only one of which was produced in her lifetime
* Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821): successful playwright
* Ann Yearsley (ca. 1753-1806): primarily a poet; produced and published one play
* Hannah Brand (1754–1821): productions largely unsuccessful; published her plays
* Harriet Lee (1757-1851): successful playwright
* Mary Robinson (1757-1800): wrote primarily in other genres; one play produced
* Jane West (1758-1852): wrote primarily in other genres; her plays enjoyed limited success
* Anne Plumptre (1760-1818): wrote primarily in other genres; translated dramas
* Elizabeth Kemble (1761-1836): mainly known for acting
* Mariana Starke (1761/2–1838): author of four plays, not all produced; mainly a travel writer
* Joanna Baillie (1762-1851): prolific playwright
* Barbarina Brand (1768–1854): author of four published plays, one produced
* Frances Burney (1776–1828): published two tragedies, never produced
* Jane Porter (1776-1850): two plays; limited success
* Jane Scott (ca. 1779-1839): prolific author of stage pieces; theatrical manager; performer
* Mary Russell Mitford (1787-1855): some success as a playwright
* Felicia Hemans (1793-1835): primarily a poet; wrote some verse drama
* Catherine Gore (1799-1861): eleven plays produced
* Catherine Crowe (1800-1876): primarily a writer of fiction; wrote two plays, one of which was produced
* Elizabeth Polack (active 1830-1838): author of five plays, three of which survive

References

*Blain, Virginia, et al., eds. "The Feminist Companion to Literature in English". New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1990.
*Buck, Claire, ed."The Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature". Prentice Hall, 1992.
*Chadwyck-Healey Database of English Prose Drama ( [http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/hasrg/hdis/epd1-toc.html through 1750] ) and ( [http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/hasrg/hdis/epd2-toc.html 1750-1939] )
*Greer, Germaine, ed. "Kissing the Rod: an anthology of seventeenth-century women's verse". Farrar Staus Giroux, 1988.
*" [http://www.oxforddnb.com/ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] ". Oxford: OUP, 2004.
*Todd, Janet, ed. "British Women Writers: a critical reference guide". London: Routledge, 1989.

ee also

* List of early-modern women poets (UK)
*
* List of playwrights
* List of playwrights by nationality and date of birth
* List of women novelists before Jane Austen
* List of women writers
* Lists of writers
* Women's writing in English

External links

* [http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/biblio/theobib2.html Bibliography of Early Modern Women Writers That Are In Print]
* [http://www.etang.umontreal.ca/bwp1800/chronology.html British Women Playwrights around 1800]
* [http://www.wwp.brown.edu/ The Brown University Women Writers Project]
* [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/ A Celebration of Women Writers]
* [http://www.lib.umd.edu/ETC/LOCAL/emw/emw.php3 Early Modern Women Database] provides links to Web resources useful for the study of women in early modern Europe and the Americas. Materials range from bibliographic databases to full-text resources, images, and sound recordings.
* [http://chaucer.library.emory.edu/wwrp/ Emory Women Writers Resource Project]
* [http://ils.unc.edu/~wootk/writers/biographical.htm List of biographical dictionaries] , with a focus on 17thc women writers
* [http://www.nwe.ufl.edu/~pcraddoc/biogstext.html London Theater People - 1660-1800]
* [http://www.luminarium.org/ Luminarium]
* [http://human.ntu.ac.uk/research/perdita/index.html The Perdita Project]
* [http://alojamientos.us.es/restoration/ The Restoration Comedy Project]
* [http://www.rc.umd.edu/ Romantic Circles]
* [http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/ac/wrew.htm#S Women Romantic-Era Writers]
* [http://www.oldroads.org/Room%20of%20One%27s%20Own/Virtual%20Room%20Home.htm The Women Writers Archive: Early Modern Women Writers Online]