Event Comment: Mainpiece: With new Scenery, Dresses and Decorations. [This was the version, altered probably by
Joseph George Holman, in which he appeared in
Dublin on 29 July 1794, on which occasion the playbill
reads, "Dressed in the Habits of the Times, and with other Alterations, adopted in its Representations 19 [recte 11] Nights last Winter, at the Theatre Royal,
Covent Garden." It further states that the part of
Ophelia would be performed "without the Airs, and with a considerable Restoration of the Text." No record of what these alterations consisted of has come to light. In III.iv Hamlet's father was represented by a life-sized portrait that hung over the chimney, and the
Queen wore a large miniature of
Claudius on her arm as a bracelet (
London Chronicle, 10 Oct.). The words of the Dirge are printed in
European Magazine, Nov. 1793, p. 393; they are stanza X of
Shakespeare's
Passionate Pilgrim.
Miss Poole had appeared as a singer at
king's and at
Vauxhall in 1787 and at the
cg oratories in 1791.] Afterpiece: Not acted these 2 years [and in place of
The Prisoner at Large, advertised on playbill of 8 Oct.]. Receipts: #332 4s. (330.3; 2.1)