Brief Lives (play)

Brief Lives
Written byPatrick Garland
Date premiered1967
Original languageEnglish

Brief Lives is a British play about John Aubrey, a 17th-century Englishman who met and kept accounts of many of the famous men of his day, including René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes and Christopher Wren.[1] It premiered in 1967 and became one of the most successful one person shows in history. Roy Dotrice played Aubrey in many productions.[2]

The play came out of an episode about Aubrey in Famous Gossips (1965), the BBC television series Garland made with Alan Bennett.[3]

The play was profiled in the William Goldman book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway.

  1. ^ Playbill for 1967 New York production accessed 15 June 2013
  2. ^ Tim Walker, "Two old stagers find vigour in Brief Lives", The Spectator 30 January 2008 accessed 15 June 2013
  3. ^ Obituary in The Guardian 22 April 2013 accessed 15 June 2013