Elizabeth Polwheele

Elizabeth Polewhele (ca. 1651–ca. 1691), playwright, was one of the first women to write for the professional stage in London.^[1] Her comedy The Frolicks was performed at the Dorset Garden Theatre in 1671; it features Claribell, a witty Restoration heroine, and Rightwit, a rake. She has been identified, tentatively, as the daughter of Theophilus Polwhele.^[2]

Plays

• Elysium (lost)
• The Faithful Virgins (ca. 1670; manuscript)
• The Frolicks, or, The Lawyer Cheated (1671)

References

1. Janet Todd (1987). "Elizabeth Polwhele". In Janet M. Todd. A Dictionary of British and American women writers, 1660-1800. Rowman & Allanheld. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-8476-7125-0.
2. Milhous, Judith. "Polewheele, E.". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/45820. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

• Wynne-Davies, Marion. "Polwhele, Elizabeth (?1651-1691) English Restoration dramatist." Dictionary of English Literature, Bloomsbury, 1997.