ABSTRACT
Press, 1986 Restoration comedy, taking its designation from Charles II’s restoration to the throne in 1660, has engendered lively twentieth-century critical controversy. Although questions about its moral, aesthetic, and theatrical value have been settled-very much in its favour-its definition, nature, purpose, and origins are still in dispute. In the past generation, critics have profited from intensified research into the practicalities of seventeenth-and eighteenth-century theatrical production, as well as frequent modern revivals.
