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References

Provider: Marguerite Connor / ±d¼}´@

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The Beau Defeated or, The Lucky Younger Brother
 A COMEDY
Performance

by students at the English Department, Fu Jen University, Taipei, Taiwan.

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In Spring semester 1997 I had the unique experience of not only teaching Mary Pix's The Beau Defeated, but of directing it as well. And to make it more challenging, I did this at the English Department of Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan.  

The decision to produce a Pix play came easily. Of course, I would chose a Restoration play, and for a department with approximately 85% women students I wanted to provide a good role model. And unlike her peers, Pix wrote plays with a number of juicy roles for women.  

Costuming presented the biggest problem since 18th century British styles are hard to find. It took a year of planning, sewing, shopping in America, and resorting to Taiwanese wedding gowns, but we managed to dress 21 actors in semi-realistic costumes on less than $US800. Our Theatre Archive has a number of pictures.  

I taught the play in two courses: an undergraduate 18th century British literature and culture class and a graduate level seminar on Restoration literature. Results were truly amazing. Students liked the novelty of being able to see "their play."   I found that I was able to tie the play in very nicely with some of the themes we had been exploring: changing roles of women, changing class roles, and the rise in sentimentalism, to name a few. One amazing development: my undergraduates preferred Pix's play to Congreve's The Way of the World, just as contemporary audiences had. They found the characters more accessible and human and thought the action-though not the language-- was better (we had seen a filmed version of Way of the World.) 

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