The Clandestine Marriage

Folger Theatre presents David Garrick and George Colman’s The Clandestine Marriage, a hilarious 18th-century comedy. Mr. Sterling, a nouveaux-riche country merchant, considers his daughters, Betsey and Fanny, as commodities that will gain him the social standing that his money can not buy. However, his youngest daughter Fanny has secretly married the cash poor Mr. Lovewell, Sterling’s apprentice. Lovewell seeks the help of Betsey’s fiancé, Sir John Melvil, to break the news to Mr. Sterling only to find out that Melvil has himself fallen in love with Fanny. Melvil’s desire to trade in the materialistic Betsey for the “tender, amiable, engaging” Fanny is met with resounding disapproval by the girls’ aunt, Mrs. Heidelberg. Sir John plans to enlist his uncle Lord Ogleby to persuade the meddling aunt. Unfortunately, his lordship has also been charmed by Fanny and wishes to make her his own wife. It’s up to Lovewell to persuade both men that marriage to her is out of the question without revealing to them that he himself has already married her.