The Poor Soldier

The Poor Soldier is a 1783 British play by John O'Keeffe. It was a comedy set around Irish soldiers returning home after fighting in the British army in the American War of Independence which formally ended that year with the Peace of Paris.^[1] One of the redcoats must fight for the love of Norah with the urbane Captain Fitzroy. The music was written by William Shield and was mostly based on old Irish airs.^[2] It bore some similarity to one of his earlier works The Shamrock.

The events are set entirely in a small Irish village Carton which is a few miles from Dublin, although several versions refer to it only as "a country village".^[3]

The play enjoyed widespread popularity in the newly independent United States, and was a favourite of George Washington.^[4]

In 1786 O'Keeffe wrote a sequel Love in a Camp, when the characters have joined the Prussian army.

References

1. ↑ Shaffer p.174
2. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/01/the-poor-soldier-review
3. ↑ Richards p.64
4. ↑ McLucas p.90

Bibliography

• Hager, Alan. Encyclopedia of British Writers: 16th, 17th & 18th Centuries. Book Builders, 2005.
• McLucas, Anne Dhu. The Musical Ear: Oral Traditions in the USA. Ashgate Publishing, 2010.
• Richards, Jeffrey H. Drama, Theatre and Identity in the American New Republic. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
• Shaffer, Jason. Performing Patriotism: National Identity in the Colonial and Revolutionary American Theater. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.