Blue Eagle Productions

Biography of George Farquhar 1677-1707

George Farquhar was born in Londonderry, the son of an Anglican clergyman, in 1677 and lived through the famous siege of that city from 1688-1689. According to some accounts, Farquhar fought on the side of William, Prince of Orange, later to become William III of England, at The Battle of The Boyne in 1690. His Pindarick, “On the Death of General Schomberg kill’d at the Boyn” (sic) shows the impression made by one of William’s most auspicious commanders on the young Farquhar:

“Gods! How he stood,
All terrible in Bloud
Stopping the Torrent of his Foes, and Current of the Floud.” (sic)

Farquhar was first educated at The Londonderry Grammar School, later to become Foyle College founded in 1617 and still in existence today. In 1694 he went to Dublin where he entered Trinity College as a sizar – receiving scant board and tuition in return for menial duties – to follow in the footsteps of his father and enter the ministry. After two years at Trinity he gave up his studies and joined the Smock Alley Theatre, the highlight of his time with the company was to play the titular character in Shakespeare’s “Othello”. Despite receiving substantial training by the manager of the company – Joseph Ashbury – he was let down by continuous stage-fright, which culminated in the in a terrible accident during one performance where he stabbed one of his fellow actors due to forgetting to exchange swords. This accident shook Farquhar so much that he resolved to quit the stage. Whilst at Smock Alley his friendship with the actor Robert Wilks, the most famous Irish actor of the day grew, and on the advice of Wilks, travelled to London to pursue a career as a playwright.

Farquhar’s first play “Love and a Bottle” opened at Drury Lane in December 1698, and was received moderately well. Many readers now ascribe the play as an almost autobiographical account of the young Farquhar arriving in fashionable London and the shock to the senses which this city had on a twenty-year-old young man form Londonderry. Farquhar also published a novella anonymously in December 1698 entitled “Adventures of Covent Garden”.

Farquhar’s next play “The Constant Couple” also known as “A Trip To The Jubilee” opened at Drury Lane on 28th November 1699, with his friend Robert Wilks in the lead role of Sir Harry Wildair. Although the play was incredibly popular, it yielded little return for its author. It is also worth noting that in 1699 Farquhar is credited with the discovery, at The Mitre Tavern, of Anne Oldfield who would later go on to be the most popular leading lady of the day, playing both Mrs. Sullen and Silvia in the first productions of “The Beaux Stratagem” and “The Recruiting Officer” respectively.

Due to the critical success of “The Constant Couple”, Farquhar stayed on familiar territory for his next play, which he based on the lead character from his 1699 success, but “Sir Harry Wildair”, which opened in April 1701, was seen as a poor sequel. His fourth play “The Inconstant” (which was an adaptation of Fletcher’s “The Wild Goose”) and “The Twin Rivals”, both in 1702, received little praise, but his adaptation of Jean de la Chapelle’s “Les Carosses d’Orleans” into the one-act play “The Stage Coach” was well received it was, though, still only an afterpiece and although his miscellany “Love and Business” was also published this year, it would still have brought him little income.

Unable to find patronage, Farquhar married in 1703, believing his prospective wife, Margaret Pemell, to be a lady of means only to find out after the event that she was a penniless widow, whose only ‘dowry’ consisted of two children from her previous marriage. This led to Farquhar seeking and being granted a commission in 1704 from the Earl of Orrey as a Lieutenant of Grenadiers. Later that year Farquhar returned to Ireland in his military capacity and received a benefit of £100 from playing the role of Sir Harry Wildair in a production of “The Constant Couple” in Dublin where his first daughter, Anne Marguerite, is born.

In 1705 Orrey recalled Farquhar to England, stationing him as a Recruiting Sergeant in the English midlands, first in Lichfield, where his second daughter Mary is born – later the setting for his final work “The Beaux Stratagem” – and then in Shrewsbury which was the setting for “The Recruiting Officer” where the play was written overlooking the yard of The Raven Inn, the rights being sold on 12th February 1706 to Bernard Lintott. Confident in the anticipated success of “The Recruiting Officer”, Farquhar resigned his commission in the Grenadiers in March 1706 and returned to London prior to the play opening in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 8th April that same year. Despite the success of “The Recruiting Officer” Farquhar was soon to fall into debt and bad health, with suspected tuberculosis.

Towards the end of 1706 he is reported to have received a visit from his constant friend, Robert Wilks who stirred Farquhar sufficiently to write his final and, what is widely regarded to be his best play – “The Beaux Stratagem”. Farquhar, despite suffering failing health, completed the play in January 1707 and “The Beaux Stratagem” opened on 8th March in the Queen’s Theatre in Haymarket. By this stage, though, Farquhar was gravely ill and lodged in a garret in St. Martin’s Lane. Farquhar lived a sufficient time to see the huge success of “The Beaux Stratagem” but died on 20th May and was buried in the crypt of St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Church in Covent Garden on 23rd May 1707. The final words ascribed to Farquhar show the warmth and love of this generous and brilliant young writer, entrusting his daughters’ well-being to his friend Robert Wilks:

“Dear Bob: I have nothing to leave thee to perpetuate my memory but two helpless girls. Look upon them sometimes and think of him that was to the last moment of his life thine.”

It is touching to note the loyalty which Wilks, who had played leading roles in all but one of Farquhar’s opening productions, showed to the memory of his friend and to his last wishes, obtaining a benefit for Farquhar’s widow and also a pension of £30 per year for each daughter, which one of them was receiving as late as 1764.

In 1708, the year after his death, the first edition of Farquhar’s comedies, as well as “Love’s Catechism” and his epic poem “Barcellona” (sic) were published. His work endures today.

Allow us to introduce...

Blue Eagle Productions is an independent professional theatre company based in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The company was formed in 2002 by freelance producer and director Jonathan Burgess. The company is seeking to build and develop audiences and is the only full-time professional theatre company in the city offering main stage touring shows produced from the Millennium Forum and other venues, as well as studio-based productions.

The company also undertakes theatre-in-education productions and has trained and provided actors and facilitators who have toured extensively throughout the British Isles. Blue Eagle Productions also offers the provision of cultural product such as reopening Talbot’s Theatre – the first theatre in the city from 1790 to 1832 – for its 2005 production of Farquhar’s “The Beaux Stratagem” which provided the impetus and demonstrated the need and desire for work by this writer within the city. The company also undertakes commissions to create theatre productions and sketches for conferences and voluntary and private sector functions.

A selection of our previous productions

• Main Stage Productions include “Women On The Verge Of HRT” by Marie Jones (2007)
• “Bubbles In The Hot Tub” by Dave Duggan (2007); “Dancing At Lughnasa” by Brian Friel (2006)
• “The Butterfly Of Killybegs” by Brain Foster (in association with Brian Foster Productions) (2004)
• “A Miracle In Ballymore” by Brain Foster (in association with Brian Foster Productions) (2004)

• Studio and Site-Specific Productions include “The Beaux Stratagem” by George Farquhar (2005)
• “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens (2002, 2003 & 2004)
• “Dracula” by Bram Stoker (2004).

• Theatre-in-Education Productions include “Get Up, Stand Up”, “Rush”, “Scream”, “Junk”, “Smashed”, “One Step Behind” for Class Acts Productions
• “Fair Faa Ye” by Jonathan Burgess for The Ulster Scots Agency.

• Youth & Community Productions include “Freeze” – WAVE Trauma (2007)
• “The Contract” – Donegal County Council (2006); “The Closing Of The Gates” – Cathedral Youth Club (2005)
• “Over The Wall” – South Belfast Cultural Society (2003).

• Conference Productions include “The Spider’s Web” – Derry & Raphoe Action (2007)
• “Well Actually…” – Derry & Raphoe Action (2007)
• “The Moderation Show” – Western Health Board (2003).