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The Busybody
The Busybody is the most popular comedy by the eighteenth-century playwright Susanna Centlivre. The play centres on two couples trying to form a relationship against the wills of their guardians, and in a battle of wits, playing with many conventions from theatre traditions across the continent, a conclusion is eventually reached.
Like her predecessor Aphra Behn, Centlivre was immensely successful in her day, drawing huge crowds to extended runs of her numerous plays, but the stabbing male pens of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries decried her work as being louche and dangerous, and her name slowly sunk into obscurity.
This edition, published with William Hazlitt’s prefatory note and extra material on Centlivre’s life and writing, seeks to highlight the dexterity with which she took on the stage.
Like her predecessor Aphra Behn, Centlivre was immensely successful in her day, drawing huge crowds to extended runs of her numerous plays, but the stabbing male pens of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries decried her work as being louche and dangerous, and her name slowly sunk into obscurity.
This edition, published with William Hazlitt’s prefatory note and extra material on Centlivre’s life and writing, seeks to highlight the dexterity with which she took on the stage.
128 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 1709
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61 people want to read
About the author
Susanna Centlivre
106 books4 followersSusanna Centlivre (c. 1667–1670 – 1 December 1723), born Susanna Freeman and also known professionally as Susanna Carroll, was an English poet, actress, and "the most successful female playwright of the eighteenth century".[1] Centlivre's "pieces continued to be acted after the theatre managers had forgotten most of her contemporaries." [2] During a long career at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, she became known as the second woman of the English stage, after Aphra Behn. (Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 13, 2017
Bottom line 1st
The Busy Body is an interesting period piece. It is somewhat unusual for being the work of a female. It is a light play; fairly easy reading but just not very funny. My review is of the Kindle edition; itself an electronic version of a publication of the Augustan Reprint Society.
To propose a theory of English Theater of the 18th Century; the use of large numbers of conventions may relate back to the same ideas in Punch and Judy. That is stock characters in stock situations help to orient the audience reduce the time needed to get the plot going and depend entirely on creative plot twists and clever dialogue. Susanna Centlivre's The Busy Body is according to the introduction drawn largely from three earlier plays. Centlivre starts with these plot devices and gives us mostly stock characters. Two young attractive resourceful women determined to get married. One pursued by her young lover and her elderly guardian. The other desirous of marriage with her young suitor but hanging under the threat of marriage on first sighting to an otherwise offstage Spaniard who will immediately lock her away from the world.
So old man to be made fools of and twisting roads on the way to the altar; winding up with a delayed and overly contrived happy ending.
Acting the fool to every other character is Marplot. He is the busybody of our title and will act as a witless disruptor any time secret plots appear to be progressing too smoothly. Of course there are inheritances, greedy money hoarding and an assumption that the way to protect a woman's virtue is to lock her away from the world.
I was often reminded of the line in Star Wars spoken by the Princess "the more you tighten your fist the more will slip through your fingers". And indeed that is what this play will demonstrate.
On top of the usual bits; hiding in cupboards; wearing disguises, love letters and faked attempts to draw away susceptible, suspicious old men; we have an interesting plot twist involving two of the lovers. As the play opens Sir George Airy is in love with one woman he has never seen but has spoken with and another woman he has spoken with but never seen. This is the same woman: Miranda and while she seems very practical she never charges him with attempting to juggle two women. Somewhere this plot device is shuffled away never mined for its comic possibilities.
There is some humorous patter. The closest I came to laughing was in the prologue where in the author addresses the audience and closes her poems saying "Let your indulgence all her fears allay, and none but woman haters dam this play." Amusing and a sample of some of the better wit in the text. The female point of view makes itself known largely in subtle ways. For example one of the future brides is will advised that her husband to be has all the qualities for which she may wish and all that is required is that both of them behave in a reasonable manner towards each other. It is the concept that husband and wife must behave the one rarely sees in other period comedies. That this comment is prefaced by noting that the state of matrimony is unfashionable is typical of these comedies.
In the introduction it is noted that in adapting The Busy Body from earlier works some of the indelicacies have been toned down. There are casual references to cuckolding, women who work the streets and the habits of men who attend the brothel. One has to wonder how the old-time writers got their reputation for avoiding sexual references. Toned down indeed.
The Busy Body is an interesting period piece. It is somewhat unusual for being the work of a female. It is a light play; fairly easy reading but just not very funny. My review is of the Kindle edition; itself an electronic version of a publication of the Augustan Reprint Society.
To propose a theory of English Theater of the 18th Century; the use of large numbers of conventions may relate back to the same ideas in Punch and Judy. That is stock characters in stock situations help to orient the audience reduce the time needed to get the plot going and depend entirely on creative plot twists and clever dialogue. Susanna Centlivre's The Busy Body is according to the introduction drawn largely from three earlier plays. Centlivre starts with these plot devices and gives us mostly stock characters. Two young attractive resourceful women determined to get married. One pursued by her young lover and her elderly guardian. The other desirous of marriage with her young suitor but hanging under the threat of marriage on first sighting to an otherwise offstage Spaniard who will immediately lock her away from the world.
So old man to be made fools of and twisting roads on the way to the altar; winding up with a delayed and overly contrived happy ending.
Acting the fool to every other character is Marplot. He is the busybody of our title and will act as a witless disruptor any time secret plots appear to be progressing too smoothly. Of course there are inheritances, greedy money hoarding and an assumption that the way to protect a woman's virtue is to lock her away from the world.
I was often reminded of the line in Star Wars spoken by the Princess "the more you tighten your fist the more will slip through your fingers". And indeed that is what this play will demonstrate.
On top of the usual bits; hiding in cupboards; wearing disguises, love letters and faked attempts to draw away susceptible, suspicious old men; we have an interesting plot twist involving two of the lovers. As the play opens Sir George Airy is in love with one woman he has never seen but has spoken with and another woman he has spoken with but never seen. This is the same woman: Miranda and while she seems very practical she never charges him with attempting to juggle two women. Somewhere this plot device is shuffled away never mined for its comic possibilities.
There is some humorous patter. The closest I came to laughing was in the prologue where in the author addresses the audience and closes her poems saying "Let your indulgence all her fears allay, and none but woman haters dam this play." Amusing and a sample of some of the better wit in the text. The female point of view makes itself known largely in subtle ways. For example one of the future brides is will advised that her husband to be has all the qualities for which she may wish and all that is required is that both of them behave in a reasonable manner towards each other. It is the concept that husband and wife must behave the one rarely sees in other period comedies. That this comment is prefaced by noting that the state of matrimony is unfashionable is typical of these comedies.
In the introduction it is noted that in adapting The Busy Body from earlier works some of the indelicacies have been toned down. There are casual references to cuckolding, women who work the streets and the habits of men who attend the brothel. One has to wonder how the old-time writers got their reputation for avoiding sexual references. Toned down indeed.
July 28, 2020
I enjoyed this farce. But farce with serious topic of who marries who and how they will have money enough to live on.
Malapropisms
Marring of marriage plots
Language Barriers
Servant Accomplices
Tricking off of parent and guardian
Disguises
Hiding from parent and guardian
Jumping from balconies
Read from Eighteenth-Century Women Dramatists.
Malapropisms
Marring of marriage plots
Language Barriers
Servant Accomplices
Tricking off of parent and guardian
Disguises
Hiding from parent and guardian
Jumping from balconies
Read from Eighteenth-Century Women Dramatists.
February 13, 2024
marplot is what dan humphrey wanted to be
sony-or-android
May 12, 2019This is the work from which the line "But me no buts," a polyptoton, according to Mark Forsyth in the (so far) wonderful The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase. Forsyth also briefly mentions Centlivre's interesting life...
February 12, 2024
without hesitation i would punch marplot in the fucking face
February 15, 2024
2.5
eighteenth century literature is just so bland to me
eighteenth century literature is just so bland to me
February 3, 2024
Given that one of the characters in this play is named Miranda, I feel obligated to like it.
The Busybody by Susanna Centlivre is a comedic play first published in the early 1700s following two sets of lovers and the social maneuvering needed to be done to get out of unwanted marriages. I think this story was cute! Even though the language was not modern, it didn’t feel like I was slogging through the story or having difficulty understanding what was happening. The plot is lighthearted and mildly gives Jane Austen vibes (different centuries, I know, but you get the idea). I will say that there is one character I wanted to wish ill upon (using more colorful language) every time they appeared. I don’t have an adequate vocabulary to fully express how frustrated this character made me. I get that is the character’s whole purpose, but still.
The Busybody by Susanna Centlivre is a comedic play first published in the early 1700s following two sets of lovers and the social maneuvering needed to be done to get out of unwanted marriages. I think this story was cute! Even though the language was not modern, it didn’t feel like I was slogging through the story or having difficulty understanding what was happening. The plot is lighthearted and mildly gives Jane Austen vibes (different centuries, I know, but you get the idea). I will say that there is one character I wanted to wish ill upon (using more colorful language) every time they appeared. I don’t have an adequate vocabulary to fully express how frustrated this character made me. I get that is the character’s whole purpose, but still.
March 3, 2023
Read for HIST 314
I liked it well enough, but what I really enjoyed was the feminist theory present in it. My favorite line was from the prologue "All Wars, except 'twixt Man and Wife, will cease. / The Grand Monarch may wish his Son a Throne, / But hardly will advance to lose his own." That goes hard.
I liked it well enough, but what I really enjoyed was the feminist theory present in it. My favorite line was from the prologue "All Wars, except 'twixt Man and Wife, will cease. / The Grand Monarch may wish his Son a Throne, / But hardly will advance to lose his own." That goes hard.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2025
i love a silly farcical romantic story! i love a not-so-subtly gay coded character! i love smart scheming women! i love the 18th century male noble equivalent of hilaria baldwin! this play is genuinely hilarious and awesome and deserves more love
February 11, 2024
A fun play to read. The characters are super interesting and dynamic. The discussion of feminist theory in this piece is probably the most compelling.
September 20, 2024
marplot es el estereotipo homosexual ajsksn 💞💞 yo lo quiero mucho, mi metomentodo
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October 16, 2024wikihow: how to hold a civilised conversation with your father in law who you just threatened with a sword five minutes earlier
October 14, 2023
Idk why but 16 and 17 century comedies do it for me.
April 24, 2015
Read for Restoration module.
I actually really enjoyed this play; it was a light little read that I read the morning before lecture on it. I found the plot a lot more simple to that of the other plays, and the female characters were also super interesting!
I actually really enjoyed this play; it was a light little read that I read the morning before lecture on it. I found the plot a lot more simple to that of the other plays, and the female characters were also super interesting!
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October 29, 2017Table Reading Group Play #3
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews