The paper analyzes the use of type-casting as a strategy to define character and character
relationships on the Restoration stage. Contrasting the original cast of Dryden’s All for Love
(1677) with that of the 1704 revival, it argues that the choice of actresses for the main female
parts in each production reveals a different conception of the play. In the 1677 performance,
the pairing of Elizabeth Boutell as Cleopatra with the domineering presence of Katherine
Corey (Octavia) turns the adulterous mistress into an innocent heroine and places her at the
moral centre of the tragedy; this move seems designed to counteract the criticism of the
king’s behaviour implicit in Sedley’s Antony and Cleopatra, performed only a few months
before. The 1704 production marks a significant shift: although Elizabeth Barry in the role
of Cleopatra would create a character full of passion and pathos, the casting of Anne
Bracegirdle as Octavia checks this effect, and indicates that it is the forsaken wife who is now
identified as the virtuous heroine. This cast redefines the relationship between the central
characters, and brings the play in line with the moral values represented by the court of
Queen Anne
