Event Comment: Mainpiece: With proper Scenes, Dresses and Other Decorations (playbill). Miss Venables (a pupil of Mr Michl Arne) made her first appearance on the Stage in Philadel. She is very Short, & has a mean appearance a tolerable Voice-but little applause Miss Younge Emmeline (first time) So, so (Hopkins Diary). [Macmillan's note from Kemble slightly expanded. Reviewer for Town and Country Magazine (Theatre XL) writes of Miss Venables, She displayed but very moderate talents for the stage. She will doubtless improve under so good a master and when she has gained a greater share of maturity will probably do honor to her tutor.'] Receipts: #140 17s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mr Reddish who has to perform the part of Alonzo was not come to begin the 3d Act, which put us in great Confusion, at Length Mr J. Aickin consented to read the part, & we Cut Mr Aickins part quite out-An Apology was made to the Audience that Mr Reddish was not come, nor had he sent any Message-The Play went on;-before the play was finish'd Mr Reddish came to the House when the Play was over Mr King & Mr Reddish went on the Stage Mr King apologis'd the Audience in behalf of Mr Reddish & told them that Mr R. was ready to make oath that he had entirely forgot that it was a play Night, & that it was by meer chance he came to the House at all-his looks were so truely pitiable, the Audience had Compassion & excus'd him (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble differs slightly. Genest, V, 353, notes that the rebellion of the audience was quelled by an offer of return of entrance money to those wished to leave. He also notes that Reddish on the eleventh published an affidavit in confirmation of his statement, begging Pardon for disappointing the public.] Paid Mr Wright per order Mr G. G. #13 5s. 2d. Receipts: #143 7s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 16 years. [See 19 April 1751.] New Scenes, Machines, Decorations &c. The Characters dress'd in The Habits of the times. This Masque is very well got up with New Scenes & Decorations particularly a Representation of the Grand Naval Review design'd by Mons DeLoutherberg & vastly well Executed had great Applause the piece is very dull (Hopkins Diary). [Macmillan's note from Kemble differs slightly in wording.] Paid five day's salary at #86 13s. 10d. per diem, #433 9s. 2d.; Miss Younge 6 days not on the list #1; Mr Courtney 3 days not on list 7s. 6d.; Mr J. French on Act #10 (Treasurer's Book). The Songs, Chorusses, &c. in the Masque (in the order they are now performed) to be had at the Theatre. The Music by Dr Arne and other masters (playbill). Receipts: #158 12s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Margaretta 1st time by Mrs Robinson not perfect. very B. & Disconcerted Mr G. very much (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble differs slightly in wording.] Receipts: #239 17s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Benefit for Waldron and Mrs Greville. Farce (in 2 Acts) Never performed before, and for that night only. This Farce was written by Mr Waldron-Some Applause (Hopkins Diary). [MacMillan's note from Kemble differs slightly in wording.] Paid Mr Wegg's rent half year to Lady Day last #57; Duke of Bedford ditto #164 2s. 10d.; One yrs Paving, Cleansing & Lighting to ditto #39 7s. 6d.; Mr Moody for Mr Philips #13 13s.; St Martin's Charity School, 1 year, 1774 #2 2s. (Treasurer's Book). [The Westminster Magazine for May gives the following cast for the farce: Reuben-$Waldron; Blunt-$Moody; Sharp-$Dodd; Flimsy-$LeMash; Joseph-$Burton; Mrs Reuben-$Mrs Davies; Betty-$Miss Platt. It then bluntly tells the plot and concludes: "The whole is beneath criticism."

Event Comment: Mr Smith Leon very la! la! (Hopkins Diary). [Macmillan's note from Kemble: Mr Smith Leon-So-So-."] Given to 2 Fire Engines #1 1s. Receipts: #163 19s. (Treasurer's Book)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 6 years. [Mrs Mahon is identified by MS annotation on Kemble playbill.] Afterpiece: Not acted these 5 years. Receipts: #210 13s. (208.8.6; 2.4.6)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Mrs Peachum to Mrs Webb, but on the Kemble playbill her name is deleted and a MS annotation substitutes Mrs Davenett's.] Receipts: #157 19s. 6d. (156/10/6; 1/9/0)

Event Comment: [In afterpiece the playbill retains Miss Collett, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes Miss Simson.] "Since the first performance, the scene of the Physicians has been judiciously struck out [of afterpiece]" {Universal Magazine, Nov. 1782, p. 254.) Paid Pemberton for copying parts #2. 3s. 6d. Receipts: #232 0s. 6d. (207/17/0; 23/12/0; 0/11/6)

Event Comment: "Mrs Siddons, in most of the Parts she plays, is the best Actress we ever saw. Miss Kemble, in all the Parts she plays, is the very worst Actress we ever saw" {Public Advertiser, 5 May). [Afterpiece in place of The Adventures of a Night, announced on playbill of 2 May.] The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [same for rest of season]. Receipts: #263 5s. 6d. (253/11/0; 8/9/6; 1/5/0)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Peachum to Wilson, and Lockit to Booth, but on the Kemble playbill MS annotations substitute Booth and Thompson.] Receipts: #140 6s. (139/2; 1/4)

Event Comment: [As mainpiece the playbill announces Tancred and Sigismunda, but "[Mrs Siddons] again appeared in Lady Randolph, for on the sudden illness of Kemble, Tancred was thus forced to be changed" (Public Advertiser, 10 May).] Receipts: #225 18s. (207/18/0; 16/10/0; 0/12/6; tickets not come in: 0/17/6)

Event Comment: [The playbill lists Wilson as Justice Shallow in mainpiece, and as Father Luke in afterpiece. On the Kemble playbill his name is deleted, but the substitute name has been cut by the binder. "It is necessary to inform those who may have read a long criticism on Wilson's performance of Justice Shallow, on Tuesday evening [in Public Advertiser, 2 Nov.], that Wilson did not perform that or any other character, as he is laid up, or rather down, with a violent fit of the gout" (General Advertiser, 3 Nov.). For Fearon as Justice Shallow see 30 Apr. 1785, 29 Nov. 1786; for Booth as Father Luke see 25 Nov. 1785.] Receipts: #139 6s. (134/5; 5/1)

Event Comment: Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. Places for the Boxes to be taken of Brandon at the Theatre. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [see 13 Nov.]. [Macready was from the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin. In mainpiece the playbill assigns Miss Ogle to Mrs T. Kennedy, but on the Kemble playbill her name is deleted, and a MS annotation substitutes Mrs Lewis's.] "The dress worn by Lewis, with small buttons innumerable, that gave it the air of a Hussar's jacket lengthened, was lately a coat won by the Prince of Wales" (Morning Chronicle, 20 Sept.). Receipts: #242 5s. 6d. (239.19.6; 2.6.0)

Event Comment: The Public are most respectfully informed, that, in consequence of the sudden and violent Indisposition of Mr Parsons, the second Performance of the New Comedy, called A School for Grey-Beards, is unavoidably postponed. This Evening will be presented [as above] (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill). Receipts: #182 13s. 6d. (141.9.0; 38.7.0; 2.15.0; ticket not come in: 0.2.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Never acted at this Theatre. By Beaumont and Fletcher, with Alterations [by Thomas Harris (Boaden, Kemble, I, 378)]. Public Advertiser, 15 Jan.: The alterations consisted of many curtailments, the last scene of Act IV being entirely omitted. [Prologue by Henry Sampson Woodfall Jun. (European Magazine, Dec. 1787, p. 503; Feb. 1788, p. 105).] Receipts: #150 2s. (146.18; 3.4)

Event Comment: [As afterpiece the playbill announces the 7th night of The Pannel, but it was not acted (see 14 Jan.). Kemble Mem. and the Account-Book both list the substitute play.] Receipts: #142 18s. (106.15.0; 32.19.6; 3.3.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for the Author [of afterpiece, who is named in Kemble Mem., but not on the playbill]. Receipts: #200 7s. 6d. (140.6.6; 55.11.0; 4.10.0; tickets: none listed) (charge: #153 1s. 2d.)

Event Comment: [Palmer's 1st appearance as Capt. Duretete was at Liverpool, 18 Aug. 1773. As afterpiece the playbill announces The Prize, but "The Public are respectfully informed that on Account of the sudden Indisposition of Bannister Jun. The Prize cannot be performed. This Evening will be presented Tit for Tat" (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill). In it "Barrymore being Ill, Benson play'd Villamour" (Powell).] Powell: New Ballet rehearsed at 12. Receipts: #117 12s. (71.0.6; 41.13.6; 4.18.0)

Event Comment: [Miss Arne, who is identified by MS annotation on Kemble playbill, had previously appeared as a chorus singer; see 27 Oct. 1794. In mainpiece the playbill assigns Mrs Peachum to Mrs Hopkins, Suky Tawdry to Mrs Maddocks, Mrs Coaxer to Miss Stageldoir, but "Mrs Hopkins being ill, Mrs Maddocks play'd Mrs Peachum; Mrs Hedges Suky Tawdry for Mrs Maddocks; Miss Stageldoir Ill, Mrs Jones play'd Mrs Coaxer. [In afterpiece] Jones Ill, Lyons Snuffle; Evans 4th Mob for Lyons [both these characters omitted from playbill]" (Powell).] Powell: Mayor of Garratt rehearsed at 12; New Ballet at 12. Receipts: #174 10s. (121.14; 51.2; 1.14)

Event Comment: [Halpin is identified in MS list in Kemble playbills of new performers for this season. This was not his first appearance; he had acted previously in Dublin (Monthly Mirror, Nov. 1796, p. 437; Hibernian Journal (Dublin), 16 Dec. 1789, 20 Jan. 1790). For the naming of the characters in mainpiece, as they were called originally, see 23 Feb. 1792.] Receipts: #255 (193.11.6; 58.4.6; 3.4.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Fawcett. 1st piece: Not acted some years [acted 30 Oct. 1790]. 2nd piece [1st time: ENT 1]. 3rd piece: By Permission of George Colman, Esq., and for that Night only. Tickets and Places to be had of Fawcett at his house, No. 10, Golden Square, and of Brandon, at the Theatre. "To the Public, May 16, 1797. In consequence of repeated Forgeries of Tickets on Benefit Nights, particularly those of Miss Wallis, Mr Incledon, Mr Holman, and Mrs Mattocks, it has been found necessary to offer a large Reward for the Discovery of the Person or Persons concerned in this unjust and cruel Practice. Mr Fawcett, therefore, thinks it his Duty to warn his Friends and the Public from purchasing Tickets for his Night of Strangers, especially those Persons who sell them in the Avenues of the Theatre, as all such will be stopt at the Doors, and if forged the Persons offering them for Admittance will be drawn into a disagreeable dilemma" (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill). Receipts: #462 5s. (189.12; 8.13; tickets: 264.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for King. [This was Smith's last appearance on the stage, from which he had officially retired on 9 June 1788.] Broadside in Kemble playbills announcing this benefit: Mr King most respectfully informs the Public that his Night is fixed for Friday the 18th of May, when will be presented The School for Scandal. Mr King has the pleasure to add that Mr Smith, who was so long and so worthily applauded by the Public, and was the original performer of Charles Surface in the above, distinguished Comedy, at the particular request of Mr King, backed by a strong assurance from many admirers and encouragers of the Drama that it will not only add to Mr King's emolument but highly gratify the Town, has kindly consented to return to the Theatre for one night, and resume his favourite Character. "We had been told that Smith pourtrayed the Manners of a finished gentleman with more delicacy and characteristic propriety than any actor of his day; but this did not appear to us to be his particular excellence; he stands too wide to be graceful, and his deportment gains no advantage from a perpetual application of his hand to the lower part of the waist. These habits are far from elegant. His Charles, however, is a favourable specimen of that sort of acting which commonly falls under the denomination of the old school: light, airy, and natural; which excites applause without any anxious endeavour to produce it; which suffers the points to tell of themselves, and does not place them as so many traps to ensnare the injudicious part of the audience" (Monthly Mirror, May 1798, p. 299). "He was received with the most heart-felt gratulations by an audience who did not expect any apology for such acting, though he saw fit to deliver one at the conclusion of the play" (Monthly Visitor, May 1798, p. 72). Times, 4 May: Tickets to be had of King at his house, New Store-street, Bedford-square. Receipts: #674 6s. (388.0.6; 55.17.6; 2.0.0); tickets: 228.8.0) (charge: #212 5s. 6d.)

Event Comment: [Miss Stephens is identified in MS list in Kemble playbill s of new performers for this season. Afterpiece in place of The Liar, advertised on playbill of 28 Nov.] Receipts: #102 17s. 7d. (27.8.1; 74.15.6; 0.14.0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Cory, Caulfield and Trueman. Hamlet [advertised on playbill of 6 May] is obliged to be deferred on account of the Indisposition of Kemble. Morning Chronicle, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Cory, No. 19, Martlet-court, Bow-street, Covent Garden; Ibid, 4 May: of Caulfield, No. 8, Cockspur-street, Haymarket. Receipts: #559 17s. (66.7.6; 39.5.0; 0.18.0; odd money: 12.8.0; tickets: 440.18.6) (charge: #219 16s. 6d.)