SOURCE: “Centlivre v. Hardwicke: Susannah Centlivre's Plays and the Marriage Act of 1753,” in Comparative Drama, Vol. 33, No. 2, Summer 1999, pp. 179-98.

In this essay, Collins accounts for the exceptional popularity of The Busie Body and A Bold Stroke for a Wife in the eighteenth century by arguing that they touched upon public anxieties regarding the legal forms of marriage, which had been increased by the passage of the 1753 Marriage Act.

The years between 1700 and 1800 saw Susannah Centlivre's plays performed 1,227 times in London theaters. Two plays, The Busie Body and A Bold Stroke for a Wife, accounted for 822 of these performances.¹ The Busie Body was an immediate hit upon opening at the Drury Lane Theatre on 12 May 1709. After eighteen performances in its first season, it averaged more than six performances annually until 1800, thus becoming the most popular female-authored play of the century. The second spot belongs to Centlivre, too. A...