Timour the Tartar

Timour the Tartar is an 1811 hippodrama play by English dramatist Matthew Lewis.

[1] Due to the success of a new equestrian version of Blue Beard (a play by George Colman the Younger) in February 1811, the managers of Covent Garden hired Matthew Lewis (nicknamed "Monk" Lewis because of his successful 1796 novel, The Monk) to specifically author an equestrian play, believed to be the first play expressly written to features horses.

But its success showed that this new combination of circus amusement and traditional theatre was clearly not going away.

[2][3] In the United States, the play debuted at the Anthony Street Theatre in New York (called the "Olympic" at the time, and also a circus venue) in September 1812.

[2][4] The play was performed often in both England and America for the next fifty years.