SOURCE: “Closet Drama,” in Thomas Killigrew: Cavalier Dramatist, 1612-83, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1930, pp. 203-31.

In the following chapter from his full-length study of Killigrew, Harbage considers several of the playwright's late works as “closet dramas,” pieces that were meant to be read rather than performed. Indeed, the critic judges them impossible to stage.

It has been implied from time to time in preceding chapters that Thomas Killigrew was a dramatist with ulterior motives, that he began to write plays as a means of attracting attention to his polite accomplishments and later became interested in the stage for its financial or professional possibilities. These implications are quite justified; we have, nevertheless, evidence that Killigrew was sincerely interested in literary endeavor, and derived pleasure from writing plays. As Oliver Cromwell wound the reins of the English government more and more firmly about his hands, and as the Exile wore...