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''Our American Cousin'' is a three-act play by English playwright Tom Taylor. The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward, boorish, but honest American, Asa Trenchard, to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate. The play first premiered at Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City on October 15, 1858, and the title character was first played by Joseph Jefferson. Although the play achieved great renown during its first few years and remained very popular throughout the second half of the 19th century, it is best remembered as the play U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was attending in Ford's Theatre when he was assassinated by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. ==Theatrical acclaim and "Lord Dundreary"== Among ''Our American Cousins cast was British actor Edward Askew Sothern, playing Lord Dundreary, a caricature of a brainless English nobleman. Sothern had already achieved fame on the New York stage in the play ''Camille'' in 1856, and had been reluctant to take on the role because he felt that it was too small and unimportant. He mentioned his qualms to his friend Joseph Jefferson, who had been cast in the lead role, and Jefferson supposedly responded with the famous line: "There are no small parts, only small actors."〔Havard, Bernard (2008), ''Walnut Street Theatre'', Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, p. 40, ISBN 978-0-7385-5770-0.〕 ''Our American Cousin'' premiered in New York on October 15, 1858. After several weeks of performances, Sothern began portraying the role more broadly, as a lisping, skipping, eccentric, weak-minded fop prone to nonsensical references to sayings of his "bwother" Sam.〔Pemberton, T. Edgar (1890), (''A Memoir of Edward Askew Sothern'' ), London: Richard Bentley and Son, p. 319.〕 His ad-libs were a sensation, earning good notices for his physical comedy and spawning much imitation and mockery in both the United States and England. Sothern gradually expanded the role, adding gags and business until it became the central figure of the play. The most famous scene involved Dundreary reading a letter from his even sillier brother. The play ran for 150 nights, which was very successful for a New York run at the time.〔Holder, Heidi J. (2004),("Sothern, Edward Askew (1826–1881)", ) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press.〕 Sothern made his London debut in the role when the play ran for 496 performances at the Haymarket Theatre in 1861, earning rave reviews.〔"Edward Askew Sothern", ''Virtual American Biographies'' (2001).〕 ''The Athenaeum'' wrote, "it is certainly the funniest thing in the world... a vile caricature of a vain nobleman, intensely ignorant, and extremely indolent".〔''The Athenaeum'', 16 November 1861.〕 "Dundrearyisms", twisted aphorisms in the style of Lord Dundreary (e.g. "birds of a feather gather no moss"), enjoyed a brief vogue. And the character's style of beard — long, bushy sideburns — gave the English language the word "dundrearies". Dundreary became a popular recurring character, and Sothern successfully revived the play many times, making Dundreary by far his most famous role. It wasn't long before the success of this play inspired an imitation, Charles Gayler's ''Our Female American Cousin'' (which opened in New York City in January 1859). None of the characters from the original play appeared in this comedy. A number of sequel plays to ''Our American Cousin'' were written, all featuring several characters from the original, and focusing on the Lord Dundreary character. The first was Charles Gayler's ''Our American Cousin at Home, or, Lord Dundreary Abroad'' (which premiered in Buffalo, New York, in November 1860,〔''Buffalo Daily Courier'', 1 November 1860, 2 November 1860, 3 November 1860.〕 and had its New York City debut the following May 〔Brown, T. Allston (1903), ''A History of the New York Stage, Volume I'', New York: Dodd, Mead and Co, p. 450.〕). Later sequels included Henry James Byron's ''Dundreary Married and Done For'',〔 and John Oxenford's ''Brother Sam'' (1862; revived in 1865), a play about Dundreary's brother. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Our American Cousin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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