The Anatomist

Full title: The Anatomist; Or, The Sham Doctor. A farce in two acts by Edward Ravenscroft. Originally a 3 act play, it was later condensed into this popular farce. According to L.M. Vincent (2005) it was based on Hauteroche's Crispin médecin and was first produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in November of 1696. The play apparently was a stock afterpiece throughout the second half of the eighteenth century. It was first published in London by R Baldwin in 1697, and a number of times subsequently.

Presented as an afterpiece with John Bull or The Englishman's Fireside (George Colman the Younger) in Cape Town, in South Africa under the patronage of the Governor by the Garrison Players in the African Theatre on 18 August 1815, as a charity performance, intended to raise patriotism. Also produced by the same company on 30 August 1817, with The Mountaineers (Colman).

Sources

Bosman, 1928: pp. 147, 150

L.M. Vincent "The Anatomist by Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827): The Play's the Thing". In Medical History, Vol 49(2) 2005 pp: 213–218.

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