Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts

🧠 Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts

The playwrights mnemonic — "WEBD": Remember the four key Restoration playwrights in order of their most famous works:

• W — Wycherley: The Country Wife (1675) — cuckoldry and sexual intrigue
• E — Etherege: The Man of Mode (1676) — the libertine rake
• B — Behn: The Rover (1677) — first professional female playwright
• D — Dryden: Poet Laureate — heroic dramas and literary criticism

The key features mnemonic — "WPRF": Four defining features of Restoration theatre:

• W — Women on stage for the first time
• P — Patent theatres (only two: Theatre Royal and Duke's Company)
• R — Restoration comedy: witty, sexual, anti-Puritan
• F — French influence: proscenium stage, scenery, continental style

"1660: Stages Reopen, Women Appear" — Anchor this date with its two biggest changes. Both happened in the same year as the Restoration itself: theatres reopened after 18 years of closure, and women legally took to the English stage for the first time. If an examiner asks for a "feature of Restoration theatre," these are your two most impressive answers — and both are tied to the single year 1660.

Aphra Behn — the feminist fact examiners love: "First professional female playwright in English history — The Rover, 1677." Behn wrote to earn money, not just for pleasure. She was mocked by some male contemporaries but produced roughly 19 plays. In an exam question about change and the role of women, Behn is the single strongest piece of evidence you can use. Remember: Behn = The Rover = 1677 = first professional woman playwright.

Key dates to know cold:

• 1642: Puritans close the theatres
• 1660: Theatres reopen; women first allowed on stage; Charles II issues patents
• 1675: Wycherley's The Country Wife
• 1676: Etherege's The Man of Mode
• 1677: Aphra Behn's The Rover
• 1689: Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (opera)