Editing Restoration comedy (section)

===First celebrity actors===
[[Image:Thomas Betterton.gif|thumb|upright|[[Thomas Betterton]] played the irresistible Dorimant in [[George Etherege]]'s ''[[Man of Mode]].'' Betterton's acting won praise from Pepys, [[Alexander Pope]], and [[Colley Cibber]].]]
Male and female actors on the London stage in the Restoration period became for the first time public [[celebrity|celebrities]]. Documents of the period show audiences attracted to performances by the talents of specific actors as much as by specific plays, and more than by authors (who seem to have been the least important draw, no performance being advertised by an author until 1699). Although playhouses were built for large audiences – the second Drury Lane theatre from 1674 held 2000 patrons – they were compact in design and an actor's charisma could be intimately projected from the [[thrust stage]].

With two companies competing for their services from 1660 to 1682, star actors could negotiate star deals, comprising company shares and [[Benefit concert|benefit nights]] as well as salaries. This advantage changed when the two companies were amalgamated in 1682, but the way the actors rebelled and took command of a new company in 1695 is in itself an illustration of how far their status and power had developed since 1660.

The greatest fixed stars among Restoration actors were Elizabeth Barry ("Famous Mrs Barry" who "forc 'd Tears from the Eyes of her Auditory") and [[Thomas Betterton]], both active in running the actors' revolt in 1695 and both original patent-holders in the resulting actors' cooperative.

Betterton played every great male part there was from 1660 into the 18th century. After watching ''[[Hamlet]]'' in 1661, Pepys reports in his diary that the young beginner Betterton "did the prince's part beyond imagination." Such expressive performances seem to have attracted playgoers as magnetically, as did the novelty of seeing women on the stage. He was soon established as the leading man in the Duke's Company, and played Dorimant, the seminal irresistible [[Rake (character)|Restoration rake]], at the première of [[George Etherege]]'s ''Man of Mode'' (1676). Betterton's position remained unassailed through the 1680s, both as leading man of the United Company and as its stage manager and ''de facto'' day-to-day leader. He remained loyal to Rich longer than many of his co-workers, but eventually it was he who headed an actors' walkout in 1695 and became the acting manager of the new company.