The Widdow Ranter, or, the History of Bacon in Virginia is a tragicomic play written by Aphra Behn and first performed posthumously in 1689.
[2] Through her heroic presentation of Nathaniel Bacon and his contempt for the colonial administration, Behn seems to voice her own disillusionment with the morality of colonization (an attitude that also finds expression in her novel Oroonoko).
[3] The play purports to describe how the colonist Nathaniel Bacon and a volunteer force of Indian fighters temporarily succeeded in overthrowing the government of Sir William Berkeley.
[5] The cast included John Bowman as Cavarnio, Joseph Williams as Bacon, John Freeman as Wellman, George Powell as Friendly, Joseph Harris as Downright, Samuel Sandford as Dareing, Cave Underhill as Timerous Cornet, William Bowen as Whiff, Anne Bracegirdle as Semernia, Frances Maria Knight as Madame Surelove, Katherine Corey as Mrs Flirt and Elizabeth Currer as Widow Ranter.
[6] Barbara Corte suggests that The Widdow Ranter is an unusual tragicomedy that gives both its comic and tragic plots a heroic inflection.