The Relapse and Other Plays

Vanbrugh was an architect as well as a playwright, and his massive style of building provoked the following mock-epitaph: "Lie heavy on him, Earth! for he/ Laid many heavy loads on thee!" Vanbrugh is best known for two comedies. In The Relapse (1696), which is a sequel to the sentimental play of Colley Cibber, Love's Last Shift, Vanbrugh questions the essential goodness of human beings, especially when presented in the form of an inveterate rake. The foppish Lord Foppington in this play is a memorable character. In The Provoked Wife (1697), Vanbrugh has fun with the serious issue of marital incompatibility. Sir John Brute, played with great success by David Garrick, is a caricature of a drunken, dim-witted, loutish aristocrat. Brute's attitudinizing is admirably rendered on stage. 020