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April 23rd, 1735: The Remarkable Charlotte Charke, Part II

We spent last week’s #theaterthursday reflecting on Charlotte Charke and her transgression of strict gender binaries on and off stage. For more on how scholarship regarding Charke’s gender/sexuality has changed over the years, check out “Reading as Lesbian, Reading as Trans* and Thinking Intergenerationally” by Katherine Binhammer. This week, we discuss yet another way Charke defied conventional constraints on women’s presence in public: her engagement in political commentary on the stage. Henry Fielding, Pasquin, and Richard Walpole On the night of April 23rd, 1735, Charke was on stage as Mademoiselle in The Provok’d Wife. As you may remember, this had been Charke’s debut role when she began acting at her father, Colley Cibber’s, theater. Despite this instance of repetition, her stage career was far from monotonous: less than a year later, Charke branched out and left behind her father’s theater altogether. In March of 1736, Charke joined manager and playwright Henry Fielding at Haymarket Theatre,... Read More

Notes from the field: New Work Using the London Stage Database

  “With the interface and the user experience, The London Stage [Database] surfaces wild connections about disabilities, racialization, pleasures, and performances across time; it removes barriers in navigating the margins and the center of performance history. In this way, it makes disability history easier to access.” – Dr. Jarred Wiehe, Colorado College That quote comes from a roundtable discussion on the topic of “New Work Using the London Stage Database”, which I hosted earlier at the annual meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) in Philadelphia. In this post, I’ll share some highlights from that event, which featured brief talks from five incredible scholars and a lively Q&A session with the audience. But before I get into it: a huge shout-out to Erin Winter, Quynh Tran-Le, Ceilidh McCallum, and Rose Ruhnke for all their work helping me prep datasets for preview and expert testing by conference attendees. In a parallel universe... Read More

April 16th, 1760: The Remarkable Charlotte Charke

On this day in history, theater fanatics across London rolled out of bed, grabbed their copies of The British Chronicle, and opened them only to find what must have been shocking news: Charlotte Charke, an iconic figure of the acting world, had died. A Life of Adventures… From a young age, Charke embraced her interests in endeavors considered improper for a woman. Her mother made it clear that she intended Charke to “[be] made a good Housewife,” but Charke found herself “passionately fond of the Study of Physics [medicine]” and took no interest in more culturally acceptable feminine hobbies such as embroidery (A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke, pages 30-34). After demands from her father to cease as desist her practice of medicine and loss of the shop she had been selling herbal remedies out of, Charke moved on to other business pursuits. This would be a theme of her life,... Read More

April 9th, 1692: Cleomenes and the Crown

Good morning lovers of the London Stage! Can you believe it? Today’s the day! The night has finally arrived that we get to see the great John Dryden’s NEW play Cleomenes! Wait- what do you mean? The show’s been canceled?! Dryden’s Latest Tragic Play “Cleomenes the Spartan Heroe: A Tragedy”, 1692. Public domain image via Internet Archive On the 12th of March, 1692 the Gentlemen’s Journal newspaper ran the following advertisement: “Mr Dryden has completed a new Tragedy, intended shortly for the Stage, wherein he hath done a great unfortunate Spartan no less justice than Roman Anthony met with in his All for Love. You who give Plutarch a daily reading, can never forget with what magnimity (under all his tedious misfortunes) Cleomenes behaved himself, in the Aegyptian Court. This Hero, and the last Scene of his Life, has our best Tragic Poet chose for his fruitful Subject.” (page 406). Invoking his widely popular play All for... Read More

April 2nd, 1796: A Shakespearian Scandle

Welcome back, theater history fans, to another #theaterthursday! Today we’re talking about the one, the only William Shakespeare. Love him or hate him, the Bard’s lasting influence and popularity are undeniable. In his own time, though, he was just one of many respected and successful playwrights. In fact — as a writer for The Economist used the London Stage Database to show — our modern sense of Shakespeare’s unique “greatness” arose over the course of the eighteenth century, with plenty of help from promoters like actor-manager David Garrick and the Shakespeare Ladies Club. By the end of the century, his reputation was cemented — and, for a certain kind of unsavory character, temptingly profitable. William Henry Ireland The year is 1796; the day, Saturday April 2nd, and Drury Lane Theatre is putting on a one-of-a-kind show — thanks to a man by the name of William Henry Ireland. Ireland garnered attention when he “rediscovered”... Read More

March 26th, 1768: Easter Holidays

A Notice to Fans of the London Stage Blog: Last time of posting ’till Easter Holidays! For this #theaterthursday, we bring to you the event of March 26th, 1768, wherein Covent Garden Theatre advertised that the show that night would be their “Last time of performing till Easter Holidays.” Covent Garden was not alone in their planned repose. It was, in fact, tradition for public playhouses to close in observation of Holy Week during the week leading up to Easter. We here at the London Stage will be following suit and taking it easy this Thursday; for, while the show must go on, everyone needs a break now and then. So, without further ado, goodbye and see you next week when we’ll be returning to our usual #theaterthursday posting!