Recruiting Officer

This completely new edition of <i>The Recruiting Officer</i> contains a freshly-edited play text with new annotations in modern spelling. Tiffany Stern's comprehensive and engaging introduction discusses the author's career and gives a history of the play including its staging critical interpretation date and sources putting it its context of the late Restoration and illuminating its theatrical vivacity.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Farquhar's <i>The Recruiting Officer</i>is set in Shrewsbury in 1704 and describes what happens in a country town when the army come to stay. With cross-dressing and confusion in plenty this is a comedy exploring the timeless themes of love and war. One of Farquhar's last two plays <i>The Recruiting Officer</i>is both entertaining and touching. It has a light humane touch and its original depiction of a real-life provincial town comically explores the impact that ongoing warfare had on its civilian society.