James Kenney (playwright)

James Kenney, around 1845, portrayed by Samuel Laurence

James Kenney (* 1780 ; † July 25, 1849 ) was an English playwright .

biography

James was born to his father of the same name, a founding member of the Boodles' Club in London , which was founded by William Petty .

His friends included Charles Lamb and Samuel Rogers . He married the widow of Thomas Holcroft , who died in 1809. With this he had two sons and two daughters; his second son Charles Lamb Kenney (1823-1881) made a name for himself as a journalist, playwright and author.

reception

Raising the Wind was the first play he performed in 1803; by 1845 another fifty more dramas and operas followed . His most popular piece is Sweethearts and Wives which he performed in 1823 at the Haymarket Theater .

Works (selection)

• Raising the wind. a farce in two acts (The modern comic theater). Lacy, London 1842 (EA London 1803)
• False Alarms or my cousin. A comic opera in 3 acts . Longman, London 1807.
• Love, Law and Physic. A farce in two acts (The modern comic theater). Lacy, London 1812.
• Sweethearts and Wives. A popular comedy in two acts . London 1823.
• Spring and Autumn or married for money. A comic drama in two acts . Dicks, London 1827
• The Illustrious Stranger, or Married and Buried . Lacy, London 1827.
  • German translation: Berheirathet und buried (stage repertoire from abroad; vol. 20). Hayn Verlag, Berlin 1831 (translated by Louis Schneider).
• Masaniello or the dumb girl of Portici. A grand opera . Willis, London 1829.
• The Sicilian Vespers. A historical tragedy . Miller, London 1840.
• The touchstone .
• Love extempore .
• The blind boy .
• The Irish ambassador .
• Matrimony .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Also under the title Spring and autumn or the bride at fifty or Spring and autumn and the birds of fifty .

Web links

• Literature by and about James Kenney in the catalog of the German National Library