Glossary

Users less familiar with English theater of the long eighteenth century (1660-1800) may run across a few unfamiliar words in using the site. Here is a brief glossary of some of the most frequently used terms:

Types of Performance

Mainpiece

The main play, usually five acts long, that was given top billing for an evening at the theater. It was often followed by at least one afterpiece, and interspersed with a variety of musical pieces, dances, monologues, and/or entertainments between the acts.

Afterpiece

A shorter (often one- or two-act) dramatic piece meant to be performed after the mainpiece; usually comical or farcical in nature.

Entertainment

An interlude or other performance piece that might feature in an evening at the theater. Popular forms of entertainment throughout the century included not only singing, dancing, and musical performances, but also acrobatics, imitations or impersonations, and acts featuring trained animals.

Pantomime

An English form of performance, sometimes referred to as "Harlequinade," that was adapted from the Italian commedia dell'arte tradition and featured stock characters like Harlequin, Columbine, Scaramouche, and Pantaloon. These performances incorporated dance, gesture, slapstick physical comedy, elaborate scenery, and special effects.

Prologue/Epilogue

A short framing piece, usually in poetic verse, that preceded (prologue) or followed (epilogue) the mainpiece. These pieces could be performed by actors from the play either in character or as themselves, or by other conventional stage figures. Some were written as companion pieces for specific plays, while others were more general and could accompany a variety of plays. Prologues and epilogues alike were most commonly spoken on the first few nights of a new play's run and attempted to win the audience's support and applause for the new offering.

Theatrical Culture

Benefit

A performance for which the profits would be assigned to a specific actor, playwright, or charitable cause. Playwrights' benefits typically took place every third night of the first run of a new play; a play that lasted six or nine consecutive nights was considered successful. Star actors' contracts usually included the right to one or more benefit nights, usually in the spring, which made up a significant portion of their earnings for the year.

Repertory

During this period, the major London playhouses were repertory theaters. This means that they had a "stock" of dozens of plays that they performed in rotation throughout a theatrical season. The repertory system required that actors have their parts for numerous scripts memorized and ready to go on short notice.

Season

At this time, the London theaters operated on a seasonal basis, closing during the summer months when many well-off Londoners left the city for vacation. Companies usually began the performance season in late summer or early fall and continued through the spring of the following year, although different theaters might begin and end their seasons on different dates. Importantly, certain kinds of performance (especially puppet shows) continued at the summer fairs, and the companies might also use the summer months to train up young actors.

Account Books

In addition to information from printed advertisements for plays and from playgoers' diaries, the editors of The London Stage, 1660-1800 rely on the financial records kept by the treasurers at the major theaters. Where available, total box office receipts for an evening are often listed in pounds, shillings, and pence (e.g. £57 14s. 6d.) in the "Comment" for an event. For entries from Part 5 (1776-1800), additional numbers sometimes follow in parentheses, breaking down the total revenue into income from different types of tickets: "First Account" tickets sold to people who were in the house at the rise of the curtain; "Half Price" or "Second Account" tickets sold at reduced prices for admission after the conclusion of the third act; and "After-Money," income from late-comers after the First and Second Accounts for the evening had already been entered. For entries taken from Part 5, events at Drury Lane list the total receipts first, followed by these three categories; in the same volume, for events at Covent Garden, the total receipts are listed first, followed by the sum of First Account and Half Price tickets, followed by the After-Money. So, for example, if the comment for a performance at Drury Lane reads "Receipts £174 7s. 6d. (132/8/0; 36/2/6; 5/17/0)," it means that the theater took in £132 8s. for full-price admissions to the entire evening's entertainment, £36 2s. 6d. for half-price tickets to everything after the third act of the mainpiece, and £5 17s. in reduced-price tickets for very late admissions to the show.

Historical Terms