Johnson was a playwright who made his first success with his comedy The Wife's Relief, or, The Husband's Cure, featuring Colly Cibber. Johnson's best and most successful comedy was The Country Lasses which held the stage for nearly a century. Most of his plays were performed at Drury Lane. He had somewhat of a rivalry with Pope and was denounced in The Dunciad. He was responsive to shifts in theatrical taste and realized that his success depended much on the approval of female theatregoers. The pathetic plight of a wronged wife or a cast mistress is Johnson's warmest theme. He was no innovator, preferring to adapt successful sources, including Shakespeare, Racine, and Cervantes, in composing drama.