The Law Against Lovers was a dramatic adaptation of Shakespeare, arranged by Sir William Davenant and staged by the Duke's Company in 1662. It was the first of the many Shakespearean adaptations staged during the Restoration era.
Overview
The Law Against Lovers was a dramatic adaptation of Shakespeare, arranged by Sir William Davenant and staged by the Duke's Company in 1662. It was the first of the many Shakespearean adaptations staged during the Restoration era.
Davenant was not shy about changing the Bard's work; he based his text on Measure for Measure, but also added Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing — "resulting in a bizarre and fascinating combination." He made Angelo from the former play, and Benedick from the latter, into brothers. The comedy of Pompey the clown and Elbow the constable is excised. Angelo doesn't really try to seduce the virtuous Isabella; he merely tests her commitment to chastity and virtue, like a protagonist in a John Fletcher play. Beatrice has a little sister named Viola, who sings and dances.
Samuel Pepys saw The Law Against Lovers at the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields on February 18, 1662, and was pleased by it; as he recorded in his Diary,
"I went to the Opera, and saw 'the Law against Lovers', a good play and well performed, especially the little girl's, whom I never saw act before, dancing and singing...."
