The Spartan Dame
The Spartan Dame is a 1719 tragedy by the Irish writer Thomas Southerne. It was inspired by a story from Plutarch's "Life of Aegis" and was originally written as early 1687, but faced a long period of censorship and revision. The Drury Lane managers chose to revive it at a time of tension with the Stanhope-led government Whigs over licensing issues, and may have selected it because its plot subtly allowed them to demonstrate sympathy with the opposition Whigs led by Robert Walpole following the recent Whig Split.

The actor-manager at Drury Lane, Colley Cibber appeared as Crites. Other members of the cast included John Mills as Leonidas, Barton Booth as Cleombrotus, Robert Wilks as Eurytion, Anne Oldfield as Celona, John Corey as Agesilius, William Mills as Mandrocles, James Oates as Thracion, and Mary Porter as Thelamia.
Q80930
tragedy
Concept
Q2403714
Thomas Southerne
PER
Q41523
Plutarch's
PER
Q332603
Stanhope
PER
Q7443565
government Whigs
UNK
Q108700
Whigs
Concept
Q104190
Robert Walpole
PER
Q104851458
Whig Split
UNK
Q1756626
Drury Lane
LOC
Q918326
Colley Cibber
PER
Q101223611
John Mills
PER
Q4865594
Barton Booth
PER
Q7351070
Robert Wilks
PER
Q4768696
Anne Oldfield
PER
Q18534824
John Corey
PER
Q99639233
William Mills
UNK
Q101223607
James Oates
UNK
Q16203235
Mary Porter
PER
Q104855580
The Spartan Dame
UNK
1719-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1719
DATE
1687-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1687
DATE
member of political party
member of political party