The center stage of London theatrical life was home to George Colman the Elder, and he shared it with such distinguished colleagues as Samuel Foote, David Garrick, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, acting as dramaturge and manager for the Drury Lane (1763-1765), Covent Garden (1767-1774),and Haymarket (1777-1785) playhouses. Neither so unrestrained as Foote nor so reserved as Sheridan, the fashion-conscious Colman proved himself a playwright of great wit and range, writing comedies of every conceivable length and stylization from one-act burletta to five-act satire of sentimentalism. The Oxford graduate's knowledge and love of Renaissance drama provided him a vast selection of models for eighteenth-century theatrical interpretation, a most practical perspective since nearly one-quarter of his dramatic output consisted of Renaissance adaptations. Taking apparent glee in delivering whatever his audiences required in order to laugh, whether genteel comedy of manners or burlesque self-mockery, he thrived professionally with his creed...