As playwrights David Garrick and George Colman the Elder showed
themselves to be practical men of the theatre, providing excellent
acting parts and well-constructed scenes capable of provoking laughter
in any age. At one time they were rival managers of the two main London
theatres, Drury Lane and Covent Garden, but their friendship was greater
than their rivalry and survived until Garrick's death. This volume
includes five plays: three short farces by Garrick, a full-length play
by Colman and the famous collaborative work The Clandestine Marriage.
The playwrights' abilities complemented each other and their eventual
parting illustrates the divergence of comic styles that were popular at
the time - the satirical and the sentimental. In his introduction Mr
Wood describes the composition and expectations of the contemporary
London audiences and the theatrical careers of the two
playwright-managers.