Authors

British · 1652–1685

Thomas Otway

Thomas Otway was the most emotionally powerful tragic playwright of the English Restoration, whose Venice Preserved (1682) was rated by contemporaries alongside Shakespeare's tragedies for its affecting power. The play — following a conspiracy against Venice complicated by male friendship and erotic obsession — remained in continuous performance for nearly two centuries. He died at thirty-three in what appears to have been abject poverty, reportedly choking on food after days of starvation.