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The list of 2007 / 08 '''Greek soccer (football) league''' clubs follows.
'''Restoration comedy''' is the name given to [[English]] [[comedy|comedies]] written and performed in the [[Restoration]] period [[1660]]—[[1700]]. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years during the [[Interregnum]], the re-opening of the [[theater|theatres]] in 1660 signalled a rebirth of [[English drama]]. Restoration [[comedy]] is famous or notorious for its [[sexual]] explicitness, a quality encouraged by [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] (1660—[[1685]]) personally and by the [[macho]] [[aristocratic]] ethos of his [[court]]. Wide and socially mixed audiences were attracted to the comedies by up-to-the-minute topical writing, by crowded and bustling [[plots]], and by the introduction of the first professional actresses. [[Image:Love in a Tub.png|frame|right|Refinement meets burlesque in Restoration comedy. In this scene from [[George Etherege]]'s ''Love in a Tub'', musicians and well-bred ladies surround a man who is wearing a tub because he has lost his pants.]]
==Premier Division ''[[Super League Greece|Super League]]''==
==Theatre companies==
*[[AEK Athens FC|AEK]] - [[Athens]], founded in 1924 -- http://www.aekfc.gr/
===Original patent companies, 1660—82===
*[[Apollon Kalamarias|Apollon]] - [[Kalamaria]] (Thessaloniki), founded in 1926 -- http://www.apollonkalamariasfc.gr/
[[Image:Inside Dorset Gardens.gif|thumb|right|240px|The sumptuously decorated Dorset Gardens playhouse was designed by [[Christopher Wren]]. The [[apron stage]] at the front which allowed intimate audience contact is not visible in the picture (the artist is standing on it).]] Charles II was an active and interested patron of the drama. Soon after his restoration, in 1660, he granted exclusive play-staging rights, so-called Royal '''[[patents]]''', to the '''King's Company''' and the '''Duke's Company''', led by two middle-aged [[Charles I of England|Caroline]] playwrights, [[Thomas Killigrew]] and [[William Davenant]]. The patentees scrambled for performance rights to the previous generation's [[James I of England|Jacobean]] and Caroline plays, which were the first necessity for economic survival before any new plays existed. Their next priority was to build new, splendid playhouses in [[Drury Lane]] and [[Dorset Gardens]], respectively. Striving to outdo each other in magnificence, Killigrew and Davenant ended up with quite similar theatres, both designed by [[Christopher Wren]], both optimally provided for music and dancing, and both fitted with moveable scenery and elaborate "machines" for thunder, lightning, and waves.
*[[Aris FC|Aris]] - [[Thessaloniki]], founded in 1914 -- http://www.arisfc.gr/
*[[Asteras Tripolis|Asteras]] - [[Tripoli, Greece|Tripoli]], founded in 1931 -- http://www.asterastripolis.gr
*[[Atromitos]] - [[Peristeri]] (Athens), founded in 1923 / merged with Chalkidon FC - Near East in 2005 -- http://www.atromitosfc.gr/
*[[Ergotelis]] - [[Heraklion]], founded in 1929 -- http://www.ergotelis.gr
*[[Iraklis]] - [[Thessaloniki]], founded in 1908 -- http://www.iraklis-fc.gr/
*[[AEL 1964|AE Larissa]] - [[Larissa]], founded in 1964 -- http://www.ael.gr
*[[Levadiakos]] - [[Levadia]], founded in 1961 -- http://www.levadiakos.gr
*[[OFI Crete|OFI]] - [[Heraklion]], founded in 1925 -- http://www.ofi.gr
*[[Olympiacos]] - [[Piraeus]] (Athens), founded in 1925 -- http://www.olympiacos.org/
*[[Panathinaikos]] - [[Athens]], founded in 1908 -- http://www.pao.gr/
*[[Panionios]] - [[Nea Smyrni]] (Athens), founded in 1890 / 1924 -- http://www.panionios.gr/
*[[PAOK FC|PAOK]] - [[Thessaloniki]], founded in 1926 -- http://www.paokfc.gr/
*[[Veria FC]] - [[Veria]], founded in 1960 -- http://www.veriafc.gr
*[[Skoda Xanthi|Xanthi FC]] - [[Xanthi]], founded in 1967 -- http://www.skodaxanthifc.gr/
==Second Division ''Β' Εθνική''==
The audience of the early Restoration period was not exclusively [[court|courtly]], as has sometimes been supposed, but it was quite small and could barely support two companies. There was no untapped reserve of occasional playgoers. Ten consecutive performances constituted a smash hit. This closed system forced playwrights to be extremely responsive to popular taste. Fashions in the drama would change almost week by week rather than season by season, as each company responded to the offerings of the other, and new plays were urgently sought. The King's Company and the Duke's Company vied with each other for audience favour, for popular actors, and for new plays, and in this hectic climate the new [[genres]] of [[heroic drama]], [[she-tragedy|pathetic drama]], and Restoration comedy were born and flourished.
*[[Agios Dimitrios FC]] - [[Agios Dimitrios]] (Athens), founded in 1928 -- http://www.paeagiosdimitrios.gr
===United Company, 1682—95===
*[[Agrotikos Asteras]] - [[Evosmos]] (Thessaloniki), founded in 1932 -- http://www.paeagrotikosasteras.gr
Both the quantity and quality of the drama suffered when in 1682 the more successful Duke's Company ate the struggling King's Company and the amalgamated '''United Company''' was formed. The production of new plays dropped off sharply in the 1680s, affected by both the monopoly and the political situation (see [[Restoration comedy#Decline of comedy, 1678—1690|Decline of comedy]] below). The influence and the incomes of the actors dropped, too. In the late 80s, predatory investors ("[[Adventurers]]") converged on the United Company, while management was taken over by the lawyer [[Christopher Rich]]. Rich attempted to finance a tangle of "farmed" shares and sleeping partners by slashing salaries and, dangerously, by abolishing the traditional perks of senior performers, in other words of stars who had the clout to fight back.
*[[Haidari FC|Chaidari FC]] - [[Chaidari]] (Athens), founded in 1937 -- http://www.haidarifc.gr
*[[Egaleo FC]] - [[Egaleo]] (Athens), founded in 1931 -- http://www.egaleofc.gr/
*[[Ethnikos Asteras]] - [[Kaisariani]] (Athens), founded in 1927 -- http://www.paeasteras.gr
*[[Ethnikos Piraeus|Ethnikos / FC Mani]] - [[Piraeus]] (Athens), founded in 1925 / merged with Mani FC in 2004 -- http://www.ethnikos.gr
*[[Giannena PAS]] - [[Ioannina]], founded in 1966 -- http://www.pas.gr
*[[Ilisiakos]] - [[Zografou]] (Athens), founded in 1927 -- http://www.ilisiakos.com
*[[Ionikos]] - [[Nikaia (Athens), Greece|Nikaia]] (Athens), founded in 1965 -- http://www.ionikos-fc.gr/
*[[Kalamata FC]] - [[Kalamata]], founded in 1967 -- http://www.paekalamata.gr
*[[Kallithea FC]] - [[Kallithea]] (Athens), founded in 1966 -- http://www.kallitheafc.gr
*[[Kastoria FC]] - [[Kastoria]], founded in 1963 -- http://www.kastoria-fc.com
*[[Kerkyra FC]] - [[Corfu (city)|Corfu]], founded in 1969 -- http://www.aokerkyra.com
*[[Kassandra Olympiakos AS]] - [[Volos]], founded as ''Kassandra FC'' / merged with Olympiakos Volos in 2004 -- http://www.austrian-boys.gr
*[[Panserraikos]] - [[Serres, Greece|Serres]], founded in 1964 -- http://www.panserraikos.gr
*[[Panthrakikos]] - [[Komotini]], founded in 1963 -- http://www.panthrakikos.com
*[[Pierikos]] - [[Katerini]], founded in 1961 -- http://www.pierikos.gr
*[[Thrasyvoulos]] - [[Fyli]] (Athens), founded in 1938 -- http://www.thrasivoulos.gr
==Third Division ''Γ' Εθνική''==
===War of the theatres, 1695—1700===
The company owners, wrote the young United Company employee [[Colley Cibber]], "who had made a monopoly of the stage, and consequently presum'd they might impose what conditions they pleased upon their people, did not consider that they were all this while endeavouring to enslave a set of actors whom the public were inclined to support." Performers like the legendary [[Thomas Betterton]], the tragedienne [[Elizabeth Barry]], and the rising young comedienne [[Anne Bracegirdle]] had the audience on their side and, in the confidence of this, they walked out.
===Group 1 (South)===
The actors gained a Royal "licence to perform", thus bypassing Rich's ownership of both the original Duke's and King's Company patents from 1660, and formed their own cooperative company. This unique venture was set up with detailed rules for avoiding arbitrary managerial authority, regulating the ten actors' shares, the conditions of salaried employees, and the sickness and retirement benefits of both categories. The cooperative had the good luck to open in 1695 with the première of William Congreve's famous ''Love For Love'' and the skill to make it a huge box-office success.
*[[Acharnaikos]] - [[Acharnes]] (Athens), founded in 1953
*[[Aias Salamina|Aias]] - [[Salamis Island|Salamina]]
*[[Aiolikos]] - [[Mytilene]], founded in 1975 -- http://www.aiolikos-fans.gr
*[[Neos Asteras]] - [[Rethymno]], founded in 1945 -- http://www.neosasteras.gr
*[[Atsalenios]] - [[Heraklion]], founded in 1951 -- http://www.poatsaleniou.gr
*[[Diagoras GS]] - [[Rhodes, Greece|Rhodes]], founded in 1905 -- http://www.diagoras.gr
*[[Fostiras]] - [[Tavros]] (Athens), founded in 1926
*[[Ilioupoli GS]] - [[Ilioupoli]] (Athens), founded in 1953
*[[Korinthos FC]] (former Pankorinthiakos) - [[Corinth|Korinthos]], founded in 1999 -- http://www.paskorinthos.gr
*[[Koropi AO]] - [[Koropi]] (Athens), founded in 1903 -- http://www.koropifc.gr
*[[Messiniakos_FC|Messiniakos]] - [[Kalamata]], founded in 1888
*[[Panachaiki|Panachaiki 2005]] - [[Patras]], founded in 1891 / merged with Patraikos in 2005 -- http://www.panachaiki.gr
*[[Panegialios]] - [[Aigio]], founded in 1927 -- http://www.panaigialeiosfans.gr
*[[Proodeftiki FC|Proodeftiki]] - [[Korydallos]] (Athens), founded in 1927
*[[AS Rodos]] - [[Rhodes, Greece|Rhodes]], founded in 1968 -- http://www.rodosfc.gr
*[[Thiva AO]] - [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], founded in 1968 -- http://www.paethiva.gr
*[[A.P.S. Thyella Patras|Thyella]] - [[Patras]], founded in 1930 -- http://www.thyella.org
*[[Vyzas]] - [[Megara]], founded in 1928 -- http://www.byzas.gr
===Group 2 (North)===
London again had two competing companies. Their dash to attract audiences briefly revitalized Restoration drama, but also set it on a fatal downhill slope to the lowest common denominator of public taste. Rich's company notoriously offered [[Bartholomew Fair]]-type attractions — high kickers, jugglers, ropedancers, performing animals — while the cooperating actors, even as they appealed to snobbery by setting themselves up as the only legitimate theatre company in London, were not above retaliating with "prologues recited by boys of five, and epilogues declaimed by ladies on horseback" (Dobrée, xxi). The demand for new plays stimulated [[William Congreve]] and [[John Vanbrugh]] into writing some of their best comedies, but also gave birth to the new genre of sentimental comedy, which was soon to replace Restoration comedy in the public favour.
*[[Anagennisi Artas|Anagennisi]] - [[Arta, Greece|Arta]], founded in 1960 -- http://www.anagenisiartas.gr
*[[Anagennisi Giannitsa|Anagennisi]] - [[Giannitsa]], founded in 1961
*[[Anagennisi Karditsa|Anagennisi]] - [[Karditsa]], founded in 1904 -- http://www.gate3.gr
*[[Doxa Dramas|Doxa]] - [[Drama, Greece|Drama]], founded in 1918
*[[Ethnikos Katerini|Ethnikos]] - [[Katerini]], founded in 1973
*[[Ethnikos Olympiakos]] - [[Volos]], founded in 1937 as ''Olympiakos Volos'' / merged in 1967 with ''Ethnikos Volos''
*[[Giannena AE]] - [[Ioannina]], founded in 2004 -- http://www.aegiannena.gr
*[[Kavala FC]] - [[Kavala]], founded in 1965 -- http://www.aokavalas.gr
*[[Lamia AS]] - [[Lamia (city)|Lamia]], founded in 1964 -- http://www.aslamia.gr
*[[Niki Volou FC|Niki]] - [[Volos]], founded in 1924 -- http://www.fcniki.gr
*[[Neoi Epivates FC]] - [[Nea Epivates]] (Thessaloniki), founded in 1928 -- http://www.paone.gr
*[[Panetolikos]] - [[Agrinio]], founded in 1926 -- http://www.panetolikos.com
*[[Polykastro AE]] - [[Polykastro]], founded in 1951
*[[Preveza FC]] - [[Preveza]], founded in 1963 -- http://www.paspreveza.gr
*[[Prosotsani GS]] - [[Prosotsani]], founded in 1970 -- http://www.prosotsanifc.gr
*[[Ptolemaida-Lignitorikhi]] - [[Ptolemaida]], founded in 2004 after a merger of Aris Ptolemaida and Eordaikos
*[[Thermaikos FC]] - [[Thermi]], founded in 1949
*[[Thraki Enosis]] - [[Alexandroupoli]], founded in 1996 -- http://www.paethraki.gr
==Fourth Division ''Δ' Εθνική''==
==Actors==
===First actresses===
[[Image:Nell Gwyn.png|thumb|right|140 px|[[Nell Gwynn]] was one of the first actresses and the mistress of Charles II.]]
Restoration comedy was strongly influenced by the introduction of the first professional actresses. Before the Commonwealth period all female roles had been played by boys, and the predominantly male audiences of the [[1660s]] and [[1670s]] were both curious, censorious, and delighted at the novelty of seeing real women engage in risquée repartee and take part in physical seduction scenes. Samuel Pepys refers many times in his famous diary to visiting the playhouse in order to watch or re-watch the performance of some particular actress, and to how much he enjoys these experiences.
===Group 1 ([[Drama Prefecture|Drama]], [[Evros Prefecture|Evros]], [[Kavala Prefecture|Kavala]], [[Rhodope Prefecture|Rhodope]], [[Serres Prefecture|Serres]] and [[Xanthi Prefecture|Xanthi]] Prefectures) ===
Daringly suggestive comedy scenes involving women became especially common, although of course Restoration actresses were, just like male actors, expected to do justice to all kinds and moods of plays. (Their role in the development of Restoration tragedy is also important, compare [[She-tragedy]].)
*Apollon - [[Paralimni, Serres|Paralimni]], founded in 1970
A new specialty introduced almost as early as the actresses themselves was the [[breeches role]], which called for an actress to appear in male [[clothes]] (breeches = [[trousers]]), for instance in order to play a witty heroine who disguises herself as a boy to hide, or to engage in escapades disallowed to girls. A quarter of the plays produced on the London stage between 1660 and 1700 contained breeches roles. Playing these [[cross-dressing]] roles, women behaved with the freedom society allowed to men, and some feminist critics consider them subversive of conventional [[gender roles]] and empowering for female members of the audience (compare Jacqueline Pearson). Elizabeth Howe has objected that the male disguise was "little more than yet another means of displaying the actress as a sexual object" to male patrons, by showing off her body, normally hidden by a skirt, outlined by the male outfit.
*Aspis - [[Draviskos]], founded in 1952 -- http://users.auth.gr/~csam
*Aspis - [[Xanthi]], founded in 1922
*AO Nea Chili - [[Nea Chili]]
*Doxa - [[Gratini]], founded in 1969
*Doxa - [[Xanthi]], founded in 1984
*Chriso AE - [[Chryso (Serres), Greece|Chryso]], founded in 1971
*Keravnos - [[Krinides]], founded in 1945
*Megas Alexandros - [[Iasmos]]
*Megas Alexandros - [[Irakleia, Serres|Ιrakleia]], founded in 1930
*Nestos - [[Chrysoupoli]] -- http://www.nestosfc.gr
*Odysseas - [[Anagenisis]], founded in 1952
*Orfeas - [[Eleftheroupoli]], founded in 1925
*Orfeas - [[Xanthi]], founded in 1903
*[[Pandramaikos FC|Pandramaikos]] - [[Drama, Greece|Drama]] -- http://www.pandramia.gr
*Visaltiakos - [[Nigrita]], founded in 1998 -- http://www.visaltiakos.gr
===Group 2 ([[Chalcidice]], [[Kilkis Prefecture|Kilkis]], [[Pella Prefecture|Pella]] and [[Thessaloniki Prefecture|Thessaloniki]] Prefectures)===
Successful Restoration actresses include Charles II's mistress [[Nell Gwyn]], the tragedienne [[Elizabeth Barry]] who was famous for her ability to "move the passions" and make whole audiences cry, the 1690s comedienne [[Anne Bracegirdle]], and Susanna Mountfort (a.k.a. [[Susanna Verbruggen]]), who had many breeches roles written especially for her in the 1680s and 90s. Letters and memoirs of the period show that both men and women in the audience greatly relished Mountfort's swaggering, roistering impersonations of young women wearing breeches and thereby enjoying the social and sexual freedom of the male [[rake|Restoration rake]].
===First celebrity actors===
[[Image:Thomas Betterton.gif|thumb|right|140px|[[Thomas Betterton]] played the irresistible Dorimant in [[George Etherege]]'s ''Man of Mode''. Betterton's acting ability was praised by [[Samuel Pepys]], [[Alexander Pope]], and [[Colley Cibber]].]]
During the Restoration, both male and female actors on the London stage became for the first time public personalities and [[celebrities]]. Documents of the period show audiences being attracted to performances by the talents of particular actors as much as by particular plays, and more than by authors (who seem to have been the least important draw, no performance being advertised by author until 1699). Although the playhouses were built for large audiences—the second Drury Lane theatre from 1674 held 2000 patrons—they were of compact design, and an actor's charisma could be intimately projected from the [[apron stage]].
*Almopos - [[Aridaia]]
With two companies competing for their services from 1660 to 1682, star actors were able to negotiate star deals, comprising company [[shares]] and [[benefit nights]] as well as salaries. This advantageous situation 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.
*Anagennisi (former ILTEX Lykoi) - [[Epanomi]], founded in 1926 / 2005
*Apollon - [[Krya Vrysi, Pella|Krya Vrysi]]
*Aristotelis - [[Nea Gonia]]
*PAO Diikitiriou - [[Thessaloniki]]
*Edessaikos - [[Edessa, Greece|Edessa]], founded in 1960 -- http://www.edessaikos.gr
*Ethnikos - [[Sochos]]
*Ilioupoli - [[Thessaloniki]]
*Kilkisiakos - [[Kilkis]]
*Makedonikos - [[Thessaloniki]], founded in 1928 -- http://www.makedonikos.com
*Niki - [[Efkarpia]]
*Niki - [[Polygyros]]
*Pavlos Melas FC - [[Stavroupoli]], founded in 1952
*''from Pella Football Clubs Association''
===Group 3 ([[Florina Prefecture|Florina]], [[Grevena Prefecture|Grevena]], [[Imathia Prefecture|Imathia]], [[Kastoria Prefecture|Kastoria]], [[Kozani Prefecture|Kozani]] and [[Pieria Prefecture|Pieria]] Prefectures)===
The greatest fixed stars among Restoration actors were Elizabeth Barry ("Famous Mrs Barry" who "forc 'd Tears from the Eyes of her Auditory", see [[Elizabeth Barry]]) and [[Thomas Betterton]], both of them active in organising the actors' revolt in 1695 and both original patent-holders in the resulting actors' coperative.
*AE Alexandreia - [[Alexandreia]]
*Apollon - [[Litochoro]]
*Apostolos Pavlos Enosis - [[Veria]]
*Ellas - [[Ano Kalliniki]]
*Flatsata - [[Inoi, Kastoria|Inoi]]
*PAS Florina - [[Florina]], founded in 1963
*AMS Galatini - [[Galatini]]
*Kamvouniakos - [[Deskati]]
*[[Kozani FC]] - [[Kozani]], founded in 1928 -- http://www.kozanifc.gr
*Pontioi - [[Veria]]
*Proodos - [[Komnina, Kozani|Komnina]]
*Pyrsos - [[Grevena]], founded in 1928
*Pydna - [[Kitros]]
*AE Siatista - [[Siatista]]
*GAS Svoronos - [[Svoronos]], founded in 1971
===Group 4 ([[Evrytania]], [[Karditsa Prefecture|Karditsa]], [[Larissa Prefecture|Larissa]], [[Magnesia]], [[Phocis]], [[Phthiotis]] and [[Trikala Prefecture|Trikala]] Prefectures)===
Betterton played every great male part there was from 1660 into the 18th century. After watching ''[[Hamlet]]'' in [[1661]], [[Samuel Pepys]] reports in his diary that the young beginner Betterton "did the prince's part beyond imagination." Betterton's 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 of the Duke's Company, and played Dorimant, the seminal irresistible [[rake|Restoration rake]], at the première of [[George Etherege]]'s ''Man of Mode'' ([[1676]]). Betterton's position remained unassailable through the 1680s, both as the 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 coworkers, but eventually it was he who headed the actors' walkout in 1695, and who became the acting manager of the new company.
*Achilleas - [[Farsala]], founded in 1928 -- http://www.axilleas.farsala.net
*[[Apollonas Larissas|Apollon]] - [[Larissa]], founded in 1930
*Aris - [[Agios Konstantinos, Phthiotis|Agios Konstantinos]]
*Asteras - [[Itea, Greece|Itea]]
*Asteras - [[Karditsa]]
*Asteras - [[Rizomylos]]
*Filoktitis - [[Melivoia]], founded in 1973 -- http://www.aofiloktitis.gr
*Fokikos - [[Amfissa]], founded in 1932
*Iraklis - [[Sofades]]
*AO Kalyvia - [[Megala Kalyvia]]
*Kissavos - [[Sykouri]], founded in 1930
*Myriki FC - [[Karpenisi]]
*Odysseas Androutsos FC - [[Gravia]], founded in 1959
*Opountios - [[Martino]]
*FC Rigas Ferraios - [[Feres, Magnesia|Feres]]
*Thiseas - [[Agria]]
*[[A.O. Trikala|AO Trikala]] - [[Trikala]], founded in 1963 -- http://www.sakafliades.gr
*FC Tyrnavos 2005 - [[Tyrnavos]]
*APO Velouhi - [[Karpenisi]], founded in 1968 -- http://www.geocities.com/apok_karpenisiou
===Group 5 ([[Aetolia-Acarnania]], [[Arta Prefecture|Arta]], [[Corfu Prefecture|Corfu]], [[Ioannina Prefecture|Ioannina]], [[Lefkada]], [[Preveza Prefecture|Preveza]] and [[Thesprotia]] Prefectures)===
==Comedies==
*Acheron - [[Kanallaki]]
Variety and dizzying fashion changes are typical of Restoration comedy. Even though the "Restoration drama" unit taught to college students is likely to be telescoped in a way that makes the plays all sound contemporary, scholars now have a strong sense of the rapid evolvement of English drama over these forty years and of its social and political causes. The influence of theatre company competition and playhouse economics is also acknowledged.
*Akarnanikos - [[Fities]]
*Amvrakikos - [[Vonitsa]]
*AO Anatoli - [[Anatoli]], founded in 1960
*Apollon - [[Parga]], founded in 1948
*Doxa - [[Kranoula]], founded in 1971 -- http://www.kranoula.gr
*Ethnikos - [[Filippiada]], founded in 1948
*Kronos - [[Argyrades]]
*AE Messolonghi - [[Messolonghi]], founded in 1931 -- http://www.aemfc.gr
*Proodeftiki - [[Perama, Ioannina|Perama]]
*[[Nafpaktiakos Asteras]] - [[Nafpaktos]], founded in 1958
*Nikolaos Skoufas FC - [[Kompoti]]
*Souli - [[Paramythia]], founded in 1934
*Stavraetos - [[Syrrako]], founded in 1973
*Tilikratis - [[Lefkada (city)|Lefkada]]
*Volida - [[Kato Garouna]] (Mesi), founded in 1963
===Group 6 ([[Achaea]], [[Elis Prefecture|Elis]], [[Kefallinia]], [[Laconia]], [[Messinia]] and [[Zakynthos]] Prefectures)===
Restoration comedy peaked twice. The genre came to spectacular maturity in the mid-1670s with an extravaganza of [[aristocratic]] comedies. Twenty lean years followed this short golden age, although the achievement of [[Aphra Behn]] in the 1680s is to be noted. In the mid-1690s a brief second Restoration comedy renaissance arose, aimed at a wider audience. The comedies of the golden 1670s and 1690s peak times are extremely different from each other. An attempt is made below to illustrate the generational taste shift by describing ''The Country Wife'' (1676) and ''The Provoked Wife'' (1697) in some detail. These two plays differ from each other in some typical ways, just as a Hollywood movie of the 1950s differs from one of the 1970s. The plays are not, however, offered as being "typical" of their decades. Indeed, there exist no typical comedies of the 1670s or the 1690s; even within these two short peak-times, comedy types kept mutating and multiplying.
*Achaiki - [[Kato Achaia]]
*Achilleas - [[Kamares, Achaia|Kamares]], founded in 1961
*Apollon - [[Petalidi]]
*Asteras - [[Amaliada]], founded in 1947
*Asteras - [[Arfara]], founded in 1955 -- http://www.asterasarfaron.gr
*Atromitos - [[Lappa, Achaea|Lappa]], founded in 1964
*Dafni - [[Andravida]], founded in 1967
*Erani - [[Filiatra]]
*[[AO Kefallinia / Ithaki]] - [[Argostoli]]
*Miltiadis - [[Kalamata]]
*Molaikos - [[Molaoi]], founded in 1969 -- http://www.molaikos.gr
*[[Paniliakos]] - [[Pyrgos, Elis|Pyrgos]], founded in 1958 -- http://www.paniliakos.net
*[[AE Sparti]] - [[Sparti (municipality)|Sparti]]
*Tellos Agras FC
*AO Tsilivi - [[Tsilivi]]
*[[PAO Varda]] - Varda ([[Vouprasia]]), founded in 1948 -- http://www.paovardas.gr
*[[Zakynthos FC]] - [[Zakynthos (city)|Zakynthos]]
*[[A.P.S. Zavlani|Zavlani]] - [[Patras]]
===Group 7 ([[West Attica]] and [[Arcadia]], [[Argolis]], [[Boeotia Prefecture|Boeotia]], [[Corinthia]] and [[Laconia]] Prefectures)===
===Aristocratic comedy, 1660—80===
*Aias - [[Aspropyrgos]]
The drama of the 1660s and 1670s was vitalised by the competition between the two patent companies created at the Restoration, as well as by the personal interest of Charles II, and the comic playwrights rose to the demand for new plays. They stole freely from the contemporary [[French]] and [[Spanish]] stage, from English [[James I of England|Jacobean]] and [[Charles I of England|Caroline]] plays, and even from [[Greek theatre|Greek]] and [[Roman theatre|Roman]] [[Classics|classical]] comedies, and combined the looted plotlines in adventurous ways. Resulting differences of tone in a single play were appreciated rather than frowned on, as the audience prized "variety" within as well as between plays. Early Restoration audiences had little enthusiasm for structurally simple, well-shaped comedies such as those of [[Molière]]; they demanded bustling, crowded multi-plot action and fast pace. Even a splash of high heroic drama might be thrown in to enrich the comedy mix, as in [[George Etherege]]'s ''Love in a Tub'' (1664), which has one heroic verse "conflict between love and friendship" plot, one urbane wit comedy plot, and one burlesque pantsing plot. (''See illustration, top right''.) Such incongruities contributed to Restoration comedy being held in low esteem in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, but today the early Restoration total theatre experience is again valued on the stage, as well as by [[postmodern]] academic critics.
*[[Akratitos]] - [[Ano Liosia]] (Athens), founded in 1963
*Anagennisi - [[Orchomenos]]
*Atromitos - [[Chiliomodi]]
*Dafni - [[Erythres]]
*Doxa - [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopoli]]
*AE Kranidi Ermionida - [[Kranidi]], founded in 1959
*AS Leonidio - [[Leonidio]], founded in 1969 -- http://www.leonidiofc.gr
*FC Loukisia - Loukisia ([[Euboea]])
*Midea Enosis - [[Midea, Greece|Midea]]
*AO Nea Artaki - [[Nea Artaki]]
*AO Nestani - [[Nestani]]
*Olympiakos - [[Loutraki-Perachora|Loutraki]], founded in 1928
*Panargiakos - [[Argos]], founded in 1926 -- http://www.panargeiakos.gr
*Panaspropyrgiakos - [[Aspropyrgos]]
===Group 8 ([[Athens Prefecture|Athens]] and [[Chios]], [[Cyclades]] and [[Lesbos Prefecture|Lesbos]] Prefectures)===
The unsentimental or "hard" comedies of [[John Dryden]], [[William Wycherley]], and [[George Etherege]] reflected the atmosphere at [[Court]] and celebrated with frankness an [[aristocratic]] [[machismo|macho]] lifestyle of unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. The [[John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester|Earl of Rochester]], real-life Restoration rake, courtier and poet, is flatteringly portrayed in Etherege's ''[[Man of Mode]]'' ([[1676]]) as a riotous, witty, intellectual, and sexually irresistible aristocrat, a template for posterity's idea of the glamorous Restoration rake (actually never a very common character in Restoration comedy). Wycherley's ''[[The Plain-Dealer]]'' ([[1676]]), a variation on the theme of [[Molière]]'s ''[[Le misanthrope]]'', was highly regarded for its uncompromising satire and earned Wycherley the appellation "Plain Dealer" Wycherley or "Manly" Wycherley, after the play's main character Manly. The single play that does most to support the charge of [[obscenity]] levelled then and now at Restoration comedy is probably Wycherley's ''[[The Country Wife]]'' ([[1675]]). [[Image:William_Wycherley.png|frame|right|[[William Wycherley]], ''[[The Country Wife]]'': "O Lord, I'll have some china too. Good Master Horner, don't think to give other people china, and me none. Come in with me too."]]
*AO Agia Paraskevi - [[Agia Paraskevi]] (Athens)
*GS Agioi Anargyroi - [[Agioi Anargyroi]] (Athens), founded in 1932
*FC Agios Ierotheos - Agios Ierotheos ([[Peristeri]], Athens)
*Aias - [[Tavros]] (Athens)
*[[Apollon Athens|Apollon]] - [[Athens]], founded in 1891 -- http://www.apollonistis.com
*[[Athinaikos]] - [[Vyronas]] (Athens), founded in 1917
*AE Chios / Vrontados - [[Chios (town)|Chios]]
*Dafni - [[Dafnon]], founded in 1979 -- http://www.dafninet.gr
*Diagoras - [[Agia Paraskevi, Lesbos|Agia Paraskevi]]
*Ellas - [[Syros]], founded in 2006
*AO Mykonos - [[Mykonos]], founded in 1981 -- http://www.fcmykonos.com
*AO Nea Ionia - [[Nea Ionia]] (Athens)
*Olympiakos - Nea Liosia ([[Ilio, Greece|Ilio]], Athens) founded in 1952
*Pannaxiakos - [[Naxos Island|Naxos]]
*Paradisos FC - [[Marousi]] -- http://www.aoparadeisos.gr
*AO Polykratis - [[Vathy, Samos|Samos]]
*PAO Rouf - [[Athens]], founded in 1948
===Group 9 ([[East Attica]], [[Piraeus Prefecture|Piraeus]] and [[Dodecanese|Dodecanese Prefecture]])===
'''Example. William Wycherley, ''The Country Wife'' (1675)''':
*Achilleas - Kato Acharnes ([[Acharnes]], Athens)
*Aitittos - [[Spata]], founded in 1947
*Atromitos - [[Piraeus]] (Athens)
*Ermis - [[Korydallos]] (Athens), founded in 1928
*AO Glyka Nera - [[Glyka Nera]]
*GAS Ialysos - [[Ialysos]], founded in 1948
*Keravnos - [[Keratea]], founded in 1928 -- http://www.keraunos.gr
*GS Marko - [[Markopoulo Mesogaias|Markopoulo]], founded in 1927
*AO Moschato - [[Moschato]] (Athens)
*Olympiakos - [[Laurium]]
*AE Perama - [[Perama]] (Athens)
*Peramaikos - [[Perama]] (Athens)
*AE Proteas / Chalkidon - [[Piraeus]] (Athens), founded in 1930 as ''Chalkidon FC'' / renamed in ''Chalkidon FC - Near East'' / merged with Proteas in 2005
*AER - [[Afantou]]
*Saronikos - [[Aegina]]
===Group 10 ([[Crete]])===
''The Country Wife'' has three interlinked but distinct plots, which each project sharply different moods:
*Aetos - [[Anogeia]], founded in 1963 -- http://www.aoaetos.gr
*Asteras Chalepa - [[Chania]] -- http://www.asterashalepas.com
*Asteras - [[Perama (Rethymno), Greece|Perama]]
*AO Chania - [[Chania]], founded in 1945
*OFI - [[Ierapetra]], founded in 1970
*AO Episkopi - [[Episkopi (Rethymno), Greece|Episkopi]], founded in 1972
*Giouchtas (Juktas) - [[Archanes]]
*Idomeneas - [[Galata (Heraklio), Greece|Galata]], founded in 1908
*Irodotos - [[Nea Alikarnassos]], founded in 1932
*PAO Krousonas - [[Krousonas]], founded in 1968
*FC Lygia - [[Ierapetra]]
*PANO Malia - [[Malia (city)|Malia]], founded in 1970
*FC Mochos - [[Mochos]]
*Olympiakos - [[Chersonissos]], founded in 1979
*AO Platanias - [[Platanias]]
*AO Tympaki - [[Tympaki]]
[[Category:Greek football clubs|*]]
1. Horner's [[impotence]] trick provides the main plot and the play's organizing principle. The upper-class town rake Horner mounts a campaign for seducing as many respectable ladies as possible, first spreading a false rumour of his own impotence, in order to be allowed where no complete man may go. The trick is a great success and Horner has sex with many married ladies of virtuous reputation, whose husbands are happy to leave him alone with them. In one famously outrageous scene, the "China scene", sexual intercourse is assumed to take place repeatedly just off stage, where Horner and his mistresses carry on a sustained [[double entendre]] [[dialogue]] purportedly about Horner's china collection. ''The Country Wife'' is driven by a succession of near-discoveries of the truth about Horner's sexual prowess (and thus the truth about the respectable ladies), from which he extricates himself by quick thinking and good luck. Horner never becomes a reformed character, but keeps his secret to the end and is assumed to go on merrily reaping the fruits of his planted misinformation, past the last act and beyond.
[[Category:Lists of football (soccer) clubs|Greece]]
[[Category:Greek football competitions]]
{{Football in Greece}}
2. The married life of Pinchwife and Margery is based on Molière's ''School For Wives''. Pinchwife is a middle-aged man who has married an ignorant young country girl in the hope that she will not know to cuckold him. However, Horner teaches her, and Margery cuts a swathe through the sophistications of London marriage without even noticing them. She is enthusiastic about the virile handsomeness of town gallants, rakes, and especially theatre actors (such self-referential stage jokes were nourished by the new higher status of actors), and keeps Pinchwife in a state of continual horror with her plain-spokenness and her interest in sex. A running joke is the way Pinchwife's pathological [[jealousy]] always leads him into supplying Margery with the very type of information he wishes her not to have.
3. The courtship of Harcourt and Alithea is a comparatively uplifting love story in which the [[wit|witty]] Harcourt wins the hand of Pinchwife's sister Alithea.
===Decline of comedy, 1678—1690===
When the two companies were amalgamated in [[1682]] and the London stage became a [[monopoly]], both the number and the variety of new plays being written dropped sharply. There was a swing away from comedy to serious [[political]] drama, reflecting preoccupations and divisions following on the [[Popish Plot]] ([[1678]]) and the [[Exclusion Crisis]] (1682). The few comedies produced also tended to be political in focus, the [[whig]] dramatist [[Thomas Shadwell]] sparring with the [[Tory|tories]] [[John Dryden]] and [[Aphra Behn]]. Behn's unique achievement as an early professional woman writer has been the subject of much recent study.
===Comedy renaissance, 1690—1700===
During the second wave of Restoration comedy in the [[1690s]], the "softer" comedies of [[William Congreve (playwright)|William Congreve]] and [[John Vanbrugh]] reflected mutating cultural perceptions and great social change. The playwrights of the 1690s set out to appeal to more socially mixed audiences with a strong [[middle-class]] element, and to female spectators, for instance by moving the war between the sexes from the arena of intrigue into that of marriage. The focus in comedy is less on young lovers outwitting the older generation in order to come together, more on marital relations after the wedding bells. [[Thomas Southerne]]'s dark ''The Wives' Excuse'' (1691) is not yet very "soft": it shows a woman miserably married to the [[fop]] Friendall, everybody's friend, whose follies and indiscretions undermine her social worth, since her honour is bound up in his. Mrs Friendall is pursued by a would-be lover, a matter-of-fact rake devoid of all the qualities that made Etherege's Dorimant charming, and she is kept from action and choice by the unattractiveness of all her options. All the humour of this "comedy" is in the subsidiary love-chase and fornication plots, none in the main plot.
In Congreve's ''Love for Love'' (1695) and ''The Way of the World'' (1700), the "wit duels" between lovers typical of 1670s comedy are underplayed. The give-and-take setpieces of couples still testing their attraction for each other have mutated into witty prenuptial debates on the eve of marriage, as in the famous "Proviso" scene in ''[[The Way of the World]]'' ([[1700]]). Vanbrugh's ''[[The Provoked Wife]]'' (1697) follows in the footsteps of Southerne's ''Wives' Excuse'', with a lighter touch and more humanly recognizable characters. During the six years between Southerne's and Vanbrugh's play, some notorious cases before the House of Lords had highlighted the complexities of "divorce" and separation (see Stone), and ''The Provoked Wife'' turns into something of a Restoration [[problem play]] in its discussion of the subordinate legal position of married women.
'''Example. John Vanbrugh, ''The Provoked Wife'' (1697)''':
[[Image:John Vanbrugh.png|thumb|right|140px|[[John Vanbrugh]], ''[[The Provoked Wife]]'': "These are good times. A woman may have a gallant and a separate maintenance too."]]
Sir John Brute in '''The Provoked Wife''' is tired of matrimony. He comes home drunk every night and is continually rude and insulting to his wife. She is meanwhile being tempted to embark upon an affair with the witty and faithful Constant. Divorce is not an option for either of the Brutes at this time, but forms of legal separation have recently come into existence, and would entail a separate maintenance to the wife. Such an arrangements would not allow remarriage. Still, muses Lady Brute, in one of many discussions with her niece Bellinda, "These are good times. A woman may have a gallant and a separate maintenance too."
Bellinda is at the same time being grumpily courted by Constant's friend Heartfree, who is surprised and dismayed to find himself in love with her. The bad example of the Brutes is a constant warning to Heartfree to not marry.
''The Provoked Wife'' is a talk play, with the focus less on love scenes and more on discussions between female friends (Lady Brute and Bellinda) and male friends (Constant and Heartfree). These exchanges, full of jokes though they are, are thoughtful and have a dimension of melancholy and frustration.
After a forged-letter complication, the play ends with marriage between Heartfree and Bellinda and stalemate between the Brutes. Constant continues to pay court to Lady Brute, and she continues to shilly-shally.
===End of comedy===
The tolerance for Restoration comedy even in its modified form was running out at the end of the 17th century, as public opinion turned to respectability and seriousness even faster than the playwrights did. Interconnected causes for this shift in taste were [[demographic]] change, the [[Glorious Revolution]] of [[1688]], [[William and Mary|William's and Mary's]] dislike of the theatre, and the lawsuits brought against playwrights by the [[Society for the Reformation of Manners]] (founded in [[1692]]). When [[Jeremy Collier]] attacked Congreve and Vanbrugh in his ''[[Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage]]'' in [[1698]], he was confirming a shift in audience taste that had already taken place. At the much-anticipated all-star première in 1700 of ''The Way of the World'', Congreve's first comedy for five years, the audience showed only moderate enthusiasm for that subtle and almost melancholy work. The comedy of sex and wit was about to be replaced by the drama of obvious sentiment and exemplary morality.
==After Restoration comedy==
===Stage history===
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the sexual frankness of Restoration comedy ensured that theatre producers cannibalised it or adapted it with a heavy hand, rather than actually performed it. Today, Restoration comedy is again appreciated on the stage. The classics, Wycherley's ''The Country Wife'' and ''The Plain-Dealer'', Etherege's ''The Man of Mode'', and Congreve's ''Love For Love'' and ''The Way of the World'' have competition not only from Vanbrugh's ''The Relapse'' and ''The Provoked Wife'', but from such dark unfunny comedies as [[Thomas Southerne|Thomas Southerne's]] ''[[The Wives Excuse]]''. Aphra Behn from being considered unstageable has had a major renaissance, with ''The Rover'' now a repertory favourite.
===Literary criticism===
Distaste for sexual impropriety long kept Restoration comedy not only off the stage but also locked in a critical poison cupboard. Victorian critics like [[William Hazlitt]], although valuing the linguistic energy and "strength" of the [[canon|canonical]] writers Etherege, Wycherley and Congreve, always found it necessary to temper aesthetic praise with heavy moral condemnation. Aphra Behn received the condemnation without the praise, since outspoken sex comedy was considered particularly offensive coming from a woman author. At the turn of the 20th century, an embattled minority of academic Restoration comedy enthusiasts began to appear, for example the important editor [[Montague Summers]], whose work ensured that the plays of Aphra Behn remained in print.
"Critics remain astonishingly defensive about the masterpieces of this period", wrote Robert D. Hume as late as 1976. Over the last few decades, that statement has finally become untrue, as Restoration comedy has been acknowledged a rewarding subject for high theory analysis and Wycherley's ''The Country Wife'', long branded the most obscene play in the English language, has become something of an academic favourite. "Minor" comic writers are getting a fair share of attention, especially the post-Aphra Behn generation of women playwrights which appeared just around the turn of the 18th century: [[Mary de La Rivière Manley]], [[Mary Pix]], [[Catharine Trotter]], and [[Susannah Centlivre]]. A broad study of the majority of never-reprinted Restoration comedies has been made possible by Internet access (unfortunately by subscription only) to the first editions at the [[British Library]].
==List of notable Restoration comedies==
[[Image:Aphra Behn.jpg|thumb|right|120px|[[The Rover]] by [[Aphra Behn]] is now a repertory favourite.]]
*[[Charles Sedley]], ''[[The Mulberry-garden]]'' ([[1668]])
*[[George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham]], ''[[The Rehearsal]]'' ([[1671]])
*[[John Dryden]], ''[[Marriage-A-la-Mode]]'' ([[1672]])
*[[William Wycherley]], ''[[The Country Wife]]'' ([[1675]]), ''[[The Plain-Dealer]]'' ([[1676]])
*[[George Etherege]], ''[[Love in a Tub]]'' ([[1664]]), ''[[The Man of Mode]]'' ([[1676]])
*[[Aphra Behn]], ''[[The Rover (play)|The Rover]]'' ([[1677]]), ''[[The Roundheads]]'' ([[1681]]), ''[[The Rover, Part II]]'' ([[1681]]), ''[[The Lucky Chance]]'' ([[1686]])
*[[Thomas Shadwell]], ''[[Bury Fair]]'' ([[1689]])
*[[Thomas Southerne]], ''[[Sir Anthony Love]]'' ([[1690]]), ''[[The Wives Excuse]]'' ([[1691]])
*[[William Congreve (playwright)|William Congreve]], ''[[The Old Bachelor]]'' ([[1693]]), ''[[Love For Love]]'' ([[1695]]), ''[[The Way of the World]]'' ([[1700]])
*[[John Vanbrugh]], ''[[The Relapse]]'' ([[1696]]), ''[[The Provoked Wife]]'' ([[1697]])
*[[George Farquhar]], ''[[Love and a Bottle]]'' ([[1698]]), ''[[The Constant Couple]]'' ([[1699]]), ''[[Sir Harry Wildair]]'' ([[1701]]), ''[[The Recruiting Officer]]'' ([[1706]]), ''[[The Beaux' Stratagem]]'' ([[1707]])
*[[Susannah Centlivre]], ''[[The Perjured Husband]]'' ([[1700]]), ''[[The Basset-Table]]'', ([[1705]]), ''[[The Busie Body]]'' ([[1709]])
==See also==
[[Essay of Dramatick Poesie]]
[[John Rich (producer)]]
==References==
This section lists works cited or used in the article.
*Cibber, Colley (first published 1740, Everyman's Library ed. 1976). ''An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber''. London: J. M. Dent & Sons.
*Dobrée, Bonamy (1927). Introduction to ''The Complete Works of Sir John Vanbrugh'', vol. 1. Bloomsbury: The Nonesuch Press.
*Howe, Elizabeth (1992). ''The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 1660–1700''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Hume, Robert D. (1976). ''The Development of English Drama in the Late Seventeenth Century''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
*Milhous, Judith (1979). ''Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln's Inn Fields 1695—1708''. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
*Pearson, Jacqueline (1988). ''The Prostituted Muse: Images of Women and Women Dramatists 1642—1737''. New York: St. Martin's Press.
*Stone, Lawrence (1990). ''Road to Divorce:England 1530—1987''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Van Lennep, William (ed.) (1965). ''The London Stage 1660—1800: A Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces Together with Casts, Box-Receipts and Contemporary Comment Compiled From the Playbills, Newspapers and Theatrical Diaries of the Period, Part 1: 1660-1700''. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
==Further reading==
This section lists a selection of seminal critical studies.
*Canfield, Douglas (1997). ''Tricksters and Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy''. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.
*Fujimura, Thomas H. (1952). ''The Restoration Comedy of Wit''. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
*Holland, Norman N. (1959). ''The First Modern Comedies: The Significance of Etherege, Wycherley and Congreve''. Cambridge, Massachussets: Harvard University Press.
*Markley, Robert (1988). ''Two-Edg'd Weapons: Style and Ideology in the Comedies of Etherege, Wycherley, and Congreve.'' Oxford : Clarendon Press.
*Weber, Harold (1986). ''The Restoration Rake-Hero: Transformations in Sexual Understanding in Seventeenth-Century England.'' Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
*Zimbardo, Rose A. (1965). ''Wycherley's Drama: A Link in the Development of English Satire.'' New Haven: Yale University Press.
==External links==
*[http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_se/murray/Restoration/Theatres/Theatres.html Restoration playhouses]
*[http://eserver.org/drama/rover/ Aphra Behn, ''The Rover'']
*[http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1244 William Congreve, ''Love For Love'']
*[http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1292 William Congreve, ''The Way of the World'']
*[http://www.bibliomania.com/Drama/Restoration/Plays/ch7act01.html George Etherege, ''The Man of Mode'']
*[http://www.bibliomania.com/0/6/276/1880/frameset.html John Vanbrugh, ''The Provoked Wife'']. Use with caution, this is an abridged and bowdlerised text.
*[http://www.bibliomania.com/0/6/274/1876/frameset.html William Wycherley, ''The Country Wife'']
*[http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/etexts/E000294.htm William Wycherley, ''The Gentleman Dancing-Master'']
[[Category:English literature]]
[[Category:Drama]]
[[Category:Comedy]]
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