John Tatham

Who was John Tatham?

John Tatham was an English dramatist of the mid-seventeenth century.

Little is known of him. He was a Cavalier who hated the Puritans — and the Scots; he invented a dialect which he claimed was their vernacular tongue. Fancy's Theatre, a collected of his poems, was published in 1640.

He produced eight pageants for the Lord Mayor's show in the years 1657–64, and several dramas. He wrote London's Glory, an entertainment to celebrate the return of King Charles II to London at the Restoration; it was presented on 5 July 1660.

Among his known plays are:

Love Crowns the End

The Distracted State

The Scots Figgaries, or a Knot of Knaves

The Rump.

In 1682, Aphra Behn adapted The Rump into her The Roundheads.