| Tom Essence | |
| Setting: | Covent Garden, present day |
| Date Of Premiere: | August 1676 |
| Original Language: | English |
| Place: | Dorset Garden Theatre, London |
| Genre: | Restoration comedy |
Tom Essence; Or, The Modish Wife is a 1676 comedy play by Thomas Rawlins,[1] sometimes also attributed to Edward Ravenscroft. It was first performed at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London by the Duke's Company. Along with Thomas Otway's The Soldier's Fortune, it incorporated scenes from Moliere's The Imaginary Cuckold in an otherwise unrelated plot.[2]
The original Dorset Gardens cast included Anthony Leigh as Tom Essence, Thomas Percival as Old Monylove, John Crosby as Courtly, Henry Norris as Loveall, Thomas Gillow as Stanly, John Richards as Laurence, Margaret Hughes as Mrs. Monylove, Elizabeth Barry as Theodocia, Margaret Osborne as Luce, and Anne Shadwell as Mrs. Essence.[3]