The Beaux Stratagem

Drama Classics: The World’s Great Plays at a Great Little Price

George Farquhar’s immortal comedy about two young gentlemen with a misguided plan to get enrich themselves at the expense of a series of young heiresses.

A pair of London gentlemen, Archer and Aimwell, pose as a Lord and his servant in order to procure one handsome dowry to split between them. While Aimwell, the ‘lord’, works on the affections of Lady Bountiful’s daughter Dorinda, his ‘servant’ Archer makes his bid for her son’s wife.

George Farquhar’s play The Beaux Stratagem was first produced at the Theatre Royal, London, in 1707.

This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Simon Trussler.