Transcript Theatre and Novel in Georgian England: Production

Theatre and Novel in Georgian
England (1714-1830): PRODUCTION
David Worrall (Nottingham Trent University)
Visiting Research Fellow, HRC, ANU, Canberra
[email protected]
1. ASSEMBLAGE THEORY AND PRODUCTION
2. LAW: CHARLES MACKLIN AND QUIET AUDITORIUMS
3. LEGISLATION: THEATRE BUILDING/REOPENING
(a) The cultural meaning of drama
changes with every change in the
performance location.
(b) On two axes: (1) spatial (2)
temporal.
Worrall, Harlequin Empire (2007)
Prologue. Spoken by Mr. [Thomas] King
.... There stands the culprit; ‘till repriev’d by you. (going.)
Enter Miss [Elizabeth] Younge.
Miss Younge. Pray give me leave—I’ve something now to say.
Mr. King. Is’t at the School for Wives, you’re taught the way?
The School for Husbands teaches to obey. (Exit)
Miss Younge. It is a shame, good Sirs, that brother King,
To joke and laughter shou’d turn every thing.
...
Ladies, prepare, arm well your brows and eyes,
For these your thunder, these your light’ning flies.
Should storms be rising from the Pit—look down,
And still the waves thus, fair ones, with a frown;
Or should the Galleries for war declare;
Look up—your eyes will carry twice as far.
Hugh Kelly, The School for Wives. A Comedy ... Drury-Lane (1774) 1774 x 4
eds., 1775, 1792, 1793; German adaptation (J.C. Bock), 1776.
Drury Lane 1770-71
‘61 different Plays / 37 different
Farces /190 Nights in all’*
[That is, 98 titles that season ]
*Prompter’s notes, Folger Ms. W.a. 204 (8)
LONDON AUDIENCE SIZE, 1813-14
484,691* Drury Lane
400,000? Covent Garden
+
King’s Haymarket Theatre; Little Haymarket Theatre;
Sadler’s Wells; Olympick Theatre, Wych Street; Astley’s
Amphitheatre etc. =
London Theatre Total Annual Sales = 1 million?
London Pop. 1801 Census: 1,096,784
*Folger Ms. W.a. 12 (Treasurer’s figures)
Royal Academy Exhibition Admissions*
Peak numbers:
79,000 in 1814
80,000 in 1817
*Hoock (2003)
Drury Lane Theatrical Fund*
London May 18th 1774 Green Room Theatre Royal Drury Lane
David Garrick Esq. The Father Founder and Protector of this
Laudable Institution...
Viz.
£2350 New South Sea Annuities—Cost £1996. Annual Produce.
£70.10s.0d
A House in Drury Lane--Cost £607.10s. Annual Rent. £50.0.0.
Cash___________________________£315.1.9.
Total: £2918.11.9.
*Proceedings 1781-89, Garrick Club
‘... married subscribers to the Fund shall be
considered as separate parties, and as such
allowed to claim under the foregoing Articles.’
The Fund, For the Relief of ... Comedians of the
Theatre Royal Drury Lane (1813)
‘Article XII. If any contributor, whose wife also is a
contributor, should, from sickness, or any other cause,
appear to the committee a proper claimant, he shall be
admitted as such, without consideration of the wife,
and the same vice versâ.’ [marginal gloss] ‘Husband and
wife claim independently of each other’
Theatrical Fund ... Theatre Royal, in Covent-Garden,
December 22, 1765, And Confirmed by Act of
Parliament, 1776 (1811)
LAW: CHARLES MACKLIN AND
QUIET AUDITORIUMS
Case, Mr. Macklin late of Covent-Garden Theatre,
against Mess. Clarke, Aldys, Lee, James, and Miles.
(Edinburgh 1775)
‘... the loss of his bread’ p 6
‘... an action at Common Law’ p 7
Nov 1773: anti-Macklin incidents at Covent Garden
June 1774: Macklin case heard by Lord Mansfield
May 1775: Mansfield finds in favour of Macklin
June 1775: USA Independence: Battle of Bunker Hill
June 1776: Garrick retires
Feb 1782: USA Independence: hostilities cease
Oct 1782: Drury Lane appearances of Sarah Siddons
LEGISLATION: THEATRE BUILDING
/ REOPENING
USA: An Act to Repeal so much of an act of General
Assembly of this Commonwealth as Prohibits
Dramatic Entertainments within the City of
Philadelphia and the Neighbourhood [passed 2nd
March 1789] , ditto Charleston SC, 1791; Newport RI,
1793 etc.
BRITAIN (excluding Ireland): Theatrical
Representations Act 1788 (28 Geo. III c. 30.)
James Winston, Theatric Tourist (1805) + Daniel Havell
watercolours with Winston’s ms. notes, Harvard
Theatre Collection TS 1335.211
SOME BRITISH THEATRES c. 1802
Andover, Ashton Under Lyme, Attleborough, Beverley, Birmingham, Bolton, Boston,
Bowness, Bridgenorth, Bristol, Broadstairs, Canterbury, Cardiff, Carmarthen, Castle
Town (Isle of Man), Chelmsford, Chepstow, Chester, Chichester, Cirencester,
Cockermouth, Coleshill, Coventry, Croydon, Daventry, Deal, Doncaster, Douglas (Isle
of Man), Evesham, Exeter, Glasgow, Gosport, Grantham, Guildford, Halifax,
Harrogate, Hereford, Hexham, Honiton, Hull, Huntingdon, Keswick, Laxfield,
Leominster, Lincoln, Litchfield, Louth, Lowestoft, Ludlow, Macclesfield, Manchester,
Market Drayton, Maryport, Masham, Middleton, Newberry, Newcastle, Newmarket,
Norwich, Oxford, Penzance, Peterborough, Plymouth, Plymouth Dock, Portsmouth,
Powderham, Preston, Richmond (Surrey), Richmond (Yorkshire), Salisbury,
Scarborough, Shrewsbury, Stamford, Stockton-On-Tees, Stourbridge, Taunton,
Totnes, Truro, Ulverston, Wakefield, Weymouth, Whitby, Wigton, Windsor, Wisbech,
Wolverhampton, York.