Gloriana (play)

{{Short description|1676 play}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox play

| name = Gloriana

| image =

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| writer = Nathaniel Lee

| setting =

| date of premiere = 29 February 1676

| original language = English

| place = Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London

| series =

| subject =

| genre = Tragedy

}}

Gloriana; Or, The Court of Augustus Caesar is 1676 tragedy by the English writer Nathaniel Lee. It was first performed by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.

The original cast included Michael Mohun as Augustus Caesar, Charles Hart as Caesario, Edward Kynaston as Marcellus, Edward Lydall as Tiberius, William Cartwright as Agrippa, Philip Griffin as Mecaenas, Thomas Clark as Ovid, Martin Powell as Leander, Rebecca Marshall as Gloriana, Elizabeth James as Julia and Mary Corbett as Narcissa.Van Lennep p.242 The published play was dedicated to the Duchess of Portsmouth, mistress of Charles II.

The play is set in the Roman Empire during the reign of the first Roman Emperor Augustus. Amongst other things it portrays the Emperor's banishment of the poet Ovid from Rome.Hopkins & Martindale p.198