 Fielding 's fifth play , The Author 's Farce and the Pleasures of the Town , first opened on 30 March 1730 at the Little Theatre , Haymarket , and initially ran for 41 nights , which marked it as a major success . The play incorporates Fielding 's response to Drury Lane and their previous rejection of his works . It also contains a third act , a puppet show , that pokes fun at theatre and the literary community as a whole . The play was revived many times in its original format and later in the medium of puppet show for its entire format . The plot focuses on Harry Luckless , an author , as he attempts to have a successful writing career , pursue women , dodge his landlady , and eventually put on a show within the show . To emphasise the literary satire , Fielding introduced his persona " Scriblerus Secundus " and adopts the tradition of the Scriblerus Club . 
