author
J. Stirling (Joseph Stirling) Coyne
1803–1868
An Irish-born playwright and journalist with a sharp comic touch, he became one of the busiest figures on the 19th-century stage. His work mixed satire, farce, and lively everyday characters in ways that appealed to a wide popular audience.
3 Audiobooks
How to Settle Accounts with your Laundress: An Original Farce, in One Act
by J. Stirling (Joseph Stirling) Coyne
A Duel in the Dark: An Original Farce, in One Act
by J. Stirling (Joseph Stirling) Coyne
What will they say at Brompton? A Comedetta, in One Act.
by J. Stirling (Joseph Stirling) Coyne
About the author
Born in Birr, County Offaly, in 1803, Joseph Stirling Coyne was educated at Dungannon School and was originally meant for a legal career. Instead, early success with light journalism and comic writing drew him toward literature and the theatre.
After writing for Dublin publications, he moved to London in 1837 and built a remarkably productive career as a dramatist, journalist, and humorist. He wrote more than sixty plays, including a large number of farces, and was known for brisk stagecraft, comic energy, and satire shaped by ordinary speech and recognizable social situations.
Coyne was also active in periodical writing and is associated with the lively world of Victorian comic journalism. He died in 1868, remembered as a prolific and entertaining theatrical writer whose work helped define mid-19th-century popular comedy.