Playwright. Trained as a lawyer, he turned his hand to writing and authored 'The Rival Kings' and 'The Destruction of Troy'. His third play, 'Cyrus the Great' was rejected by the actors, forcing Banks to abandon some of his bombastic propensities. In May 1681 the company at Drury Lane staged 'The Unhappy Favourite' which contained a prologue and epilogue by Dryden. 'Vertue Betray'd', a play about Anne Boleyn, followed the next year but his next,'The Island Queens' was banned for contentious content. Impoverished by this, Banks returned to his legal career, returning in the 1690's to rewrite his banned play, which was finally staged to acclaim under the title 'Albion Queens'. Plagued by debt in his later years, he died in 1706.
Playwright. Trained as a lawyer, he turned his hand to writing and authored 'The Rival Kings' and 'The Destruction of Troy'. His third play, 'Cyrus the Great' was rejected by the actors, forcing Banks to abandon some of his bombastic propensities. In May 1681 the company at Drury Lane staged 'The Unhappy Favourite' which contained a prologue and epilogue by Dryden. 'Vertue Betray'd', a play about Anne Boleyn, followed the next year but his next,'The Island Queens' was banned for contentious content. Impoverished by this, Banks returned to his legal career, returning in the 1690's to rewrite his banned play, which was finally staged to acclaim under the title 'Albion Queens'. Plagued by debt in his later years, he died in 1706.
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