… plays by Shakespeare ( As You Like It , Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice in 1741 and in 1747, The Tempest and Love’s Labour’s Lost) 8 in Drury Lane . It led to the development and improvement of his pioneering and innovative … on his lowborn and Irish roots. In 1759, he returned to the theatre and had his first success as a playwright with Love à la mode . But this play was stolen by unprincipled publishers in London and proprietors of the Crow Street Theatre …