The comedies of Thomas Porter, Restoration playwright

The three comedies present the opportunity to study Porter's dramatic techniques as well as to assess his growth as an artist. Each of these comedies represents a different tradition in the theater. The Carnival is primarily a Spanish romance, which blends the love and honor theme with Shakespearean romance and with the comedy of manners. A Witty Combat, in contrast, follows the pattern of the Jacobean city comedy and satirizes rising middle class aspirations. The French Conjurer, on the other hand, returns to the Spanish romance for its characters and setting, but the play develops a cynical tone that was not evident in The Carnival.

The three comedies reveal a great range of dramatic and comic effects. While not a wit comedy writer to a great degree, Porter succeeds in handling some situations in a witty way, but by the time he writes The French Conjurer, he turns to farce more often than not to resolve most situations.

These works reveal some range in contemporary tastes in Restoration comedy and are indicative of the kind of drama emanating from a lesser dramatist of the period. The plays tend to follow the general pattern of drama of the period in that the last play reveals the cynicism regarding marriage, religion, and other social institutions that was prevalent in many other plays written during the same time. While each of Porter's plays has some merit, The Carnival is the only work which blends characterization and plot to the point of a polished, completely satisfying drama.