RIVERSIDE, CA – The Department of Theatre at the University of California, Riverside, is pleased to present The Rover (1677), a play by Aphra Behn.
This play is based on Thomaso, or The Wanderer by Thomas Killigrew, written in 1664. The Rover deals with the passionate adventures of Englishmen attending The Carnival in Naples. Willmore, a dashing naval captain, falls in love with Hellena. Hellena is desperate to know love before her brother delivers her to the convent. Trouble arises when Angelica Bianca, a renowned courtesan, falls in love with Willmore and vows to get revenge on him for betraying her. Meanwhile, Florinda, Hellena’s sister, wants nothing more than to marry her true love, Colonel Belvile. However, her brother has other plans. Finally, this play tells the story of the parochial Blunt, who is convinced that a young girl has fallen in love with him, only to be shamed when he learns that she is a prostitute and a thief.
The Rover (1677), a play by Aphra Behn
Set in the topsy-turvy world of Carnival, this restoration comedy explores the dangerous game of “the chase” within the social-sexual boundaries of the libertine realm.
November 14, Thursday, 8:00 pm
November 15, Friday, 8:00 pm
November 16, Saturday, 8:00 pm
November 21, Thursday, 8:00 pm
November 22, Friday, 8:00 pm
November 23, Saturday, 2:30 pm Matinee
November 23, Saturday, 8:00 pm
ARTS Building – Studio Theatre, ARTS 113
Tickets: (951) 827-4331
$14 General admission. $12 students, UCR alumni cardholders, senior citizens & children.
Parking: $5.00 in Lot 1 (No fee with UC permit)
Information: (951) 827-3245
Photos: Available after November 1
APHRA BEHN (playwright) – remains one of the most significant dramatists of the late seventeenth century. She was also a notable poet and novelist. Her contemporary reputation developed out of her “appalling” plays, which she declared would never have been censured had they been written by a man.
She once quipped “Yet if thou didst but know how little wit governs this mighty universe.”