Event Comment: By Command of Their Majesties. "Towards the conclusion [of afterpiece, Miss DeCamp] fell with Kelly, while in the act of running down the stage; her head striking with so much violence against the boards that she fainted away [having received a severe contusion that necessitated surgery]" (Morning Herald, 8 Feb.). It is to be hoped that the events of Thursday Evening will prove a wholesome warning to the servants of the Theatre, and enforce the necessity of sweeping the stage with greater care. The disaster, it seems, originated in the peel of an orange, which the Copper Captain [in mainpiece] throws away" (Dramatic Censor, I, 210). Receipts: #591 19s. (525.13.6; 63.5.6; 3.0.0)

Event Comment: The King's Company. Pepys, Diary: So she [Mrs Pepys] and I to the King's playhouse, and there sat to avoid seeing Knepp in box above where Mrs Williams happened to be, and there saw The Usurper; a pretty good play, in all but what is designed to resemble Cromwell and Hugh Peters, which is mighty silly

Event Comment: By His Royal Highness's Command. Lord Chamberlain's Office, 5@157, p. 287: I do hereby Order and direct that Mr Gay s Pastorall Tragedy be imediately Acted after Mr Hugh's

Event Comment: London Journal, 12 May: Was acted at Mr Newcomb's School, formerly Mr Morland's School, at Clapton, near Hackney, the late Mr Hugh's Play...with great Applause, they having the proper Habits and Decorations. Tis said, the Lad that acted the Lady was adorned with Jewels to the Value of Six Thousand Pounds; there was a great Number of Gentry to see the Performance

Event Comment: Benefit Kelly. 7 P.M

Event Comment: fterpiece considered absolutely beautiful' by Christlob Mylius, German visitor, who was impressed by the skill and rapidity of scene shifting, and by evidence of English freedom which tolerated a scene representing the Equestrian statue of George I with Harlequin mounted instead of the King. See J. A. Kelly, German Visitors, p. 26.

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by John O'Keeffe. MS: Larpent 608; not published. CG playbill of 16 Nov. 1795 has a detailed synopsis of the action]: Intermixed with Songs and Dialogue. With new Music, Scenes, Dresses, Machinery, and Decorations. The new Music composed by Shield. The new Scenes designed by Richards, and executed by Richards, Hodgins, and assistants. To conclude with a Representation of the Lord Mayor's Show on the Water. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. "As to the Pantomime it wanted nothing on the first Night but Abbreviations . . . [which should be] omission of the Doctors, the two Women of the Town, and the whole of Edwin's Character" (Public Advertiser, 27 Nov.). Gentleman's Magazine, Jan. 1783, pp. 29-31, contains a detailed synopsis of the procession, and adds, "The personages of this procession were all dressed in the characters of the time in which they lived, and before each of them a label, a scroll, or a pageant was carried, bearing their name, or some allusion of the poets to their occupation. The figures in transparency were all painted as large as the life, and had a most grand and beautiful effect . . . The idea of the paintings was furnished by Mr Richards and Mr Smirk [sic], and all of them executed by the latter in a style of so much taste and excellence that it is a matter of some wonder to us, where an artist of Mr Smirk's abilities has been so long concealed . . . The glee introduced with so much applause is the composition of the late Dr Rogers (who lived in 1600); the other airs in the pantomime and procession arc by Handel, Lord Kelly, Abel, Stamitz and Shield, and have very great merit. The expense of preparing this splendid spectacle must have been very great, and the cost of continuing its representation cannot be inconsiderable, since more than 200 supernumeraries are employed to walk in the procession." Receipts: #215 3s. (206/3; 9/0)

Event Comment: In afterpiece, added, following Lord Mayor's Show: A New Historical Procession of the Several Companies, with their respective Pageants, and the Chief Magistrates belonging to the City of London, from its Foundation. The Scenes, Machinery and Decorations, both of the Pantomime and Procession, invented and designed by Richards, and executed by Him, Smirk, Hodgins, Catton, and others. Book of the Songs, with an Explanation of the Procession [reprinted in Public Advertiser, 21 Jan.], to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 21 Jan.: The glee is the composition of the late [Benjamin] Rogers (who lived in 1600); the other airs are by Handel, [the Earl of] Kelly, Abel, Stamitz, and Shield . . . More than 200 supernumeraries are employed to walk in the Procession. Receipts: #236 4s. 6d. (231/4/0; 5/0/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for a Fund for the Relief of those who from their Infirmities shall be obliged to retire from the Stage. [Ernst Brandes quoted in J. A. Kelly, p. 109: Brandes has much to say on the subject of Shakespeare ... He regrets that the role of Ophelia is assigned in both theaters on the strength of the candidate's accomplishments as a singer, which he considers relatively unimportant; and that the mania for operettas has been allowed to disfigure several of Shakespeare's plays. The Tempest had been debased to an opera, and a whole army of witches had been added to the cast of Macbeth, so that witches' arias and witches' choruses might be introduced.] Receipts: #241 10s. (131/16/0; 12/17/6; 1/1/6; tickets: 95/15/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: A School for Fathers [announced on playbill of 28 Apr.] is obliged to be deferred, on account of the Indisposition of Kelly. Receipts: #97 18s. (70.13; 24.7; 2.18)

Event Comment: "Mrs Siddons's timid approach [in Act V] to the home of a friend whom she had robbed of a lover: 'She staggers up to the door, timidly lifts the knocker, releases it as if she had committed a mortal sin, seizes it a second time and--knocks. It is impossible to describe how she knocked, but I shall never forget her in this situation, never forget the tone of her voice in answer to the servant, never the timidity, the anguish of her expression and movements.'" (F. W. von Hassell quoted in J. A. Kelly, 144-45). Receipts: #337 7s. 6d. (321.16.0; 14.6.6; 1.5.0, being the largest amount taken at this theatre, on a night not devoted to a benefit, between 1776 and 4 June of this season, q. v.)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. With new Dresses and Decorations. The Characters dressed in the Habits of the Times. [Palmer Jun. was from the hay.] "It is necessary to remind both Macbeth and his Lady that there is a measured declamation, of which the natural utterance of passion knows nothing, and that words and syllables may be divided and subdivided till the fatigue of the ear overcome every other feeling...Between the first and second acts Ca ira was loudly called for from the pit and gallery. The clamour, after preventing the first part of the second act from being heard, subsided as unaccountably as it rose. The performers, in compliance with an admonition from the pit, began the act again, and proceeded without further interruption" (Morning Chronicle, 20 Feb.). "In Macbeth there was too much that was not Shakespeare, too much bad taste and shabbiness in the costumes of the witches, and all in all too much claptrap. He found it insufferable that Banquo should take the part of his own ghost and felt that the audience should behold the specter only in Macbeth's terror, as was the case with the banquet guests. 'Mr Kemble has desired on several occasions to suppress the ghost,' Meister says, 'but has never had the courage to do so.'" (J. H. Meister quoted in J. A. Kelly, 134). For Kemble's eventual courage in this matter see dl, 21 Apr. 1794.] Receipts: #425 6s. (383.2; 40.4; 2.0)

Event Comment: Genest, VII, 88: On this evening there was not any play performed, from respect to the memory of the unfortunate monarch, Louis 16th, who was murdered in Paris on that day [sic] -Kemble, without consulting Sheridan, closed the theatre -Sheridan, who was out of town, arrived late that evening, and finding there was no play, was highly incensed at the shutting up of the theatre upon such an occasion; for, he said, it was an invariable maxim with him, that neither politics nor religion should be taken notice of in his playhouse, yet no man deplored the tragical event more sincerely than he did. (Kelly, Reminiscences, II, 37). [The playbill of 23 Jan. advertises Cymon and The Ghost for this present evening.

Event Comment: Afterpiece: By Permssion of the Manager of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. The Overture and Music by Dr Arnold. Powell: Children in the Wood rehearsed at 10 (Bannister, Dignum, Mrs Powell, Mrs Bland absent); No Song No Supper at 11 (for Starace, Kelly, Leak, Dignum, Sedgwick); Distressed Mother at 12. Receipts: #385 7s. (310/1/6; 64/10/6; 10/15/0)