Event Comment: Mainpiece: The Overture, Chorusses and new Musick by Dr Arnold, The Dresses, Scenes and Decorations entirely new. The Scenes painted by Greenwood, Marinari, and their Assistants. Powell: Mountaineers rehearsed at 10; Wedding Day at 12. [Fialon and Aumer were from king's.] Receipts: #185 (131.17.6; 49.16.0; 3.6.6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mme Hilligsberg. Tickets to be had of Mme Hilligsberg, No. 115, Jermyn-street. 2nd ballet: With new Scenery by Belenger and new Dresses by Sestini. The greater part of the music by Mazzinghi

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; MD 3, by George Colman, ynger]: The Scenery and Dresses are entirely new. The Musick composed by Storace.The Scenes designed and executed by Greenwood and Capon [the Gothic library was painted by Capon (Oracle, 21 Mar. 1796)]. The Dresses by Johnston, Gay and Miss Rein. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. [When Colman published his play he prefaced it with an acrimonious attack on Kemble, in which he accused him of deliberately trying to make the play a failure. But almost without exception the contemporary reviews excused Kemble's performance on the grounds of his obvious indisposition, and agreed that the play itself was unsatisfactory. "The play failed, and we are sorry to say did not merit to succeed...Kemble, who was tormented With an incessant cough, said he could not but be sensible that much of the displeasure of the house proceeded from his deficiency in a principal character...The whole audience with one voice cried out, 'No, no, Kemble-it is not your fault'" (Oracle, 14 Mar.). "The dialogue is extremely heavy, and there is little or no incident to relieve the tedium of more than four hours representation...Sir Edward Mortimer is a being distracted, with no adequate cause; a prey to remorse, which he of all men was the last to feel from the principles that make up his being. This therefore is the radical moral defect of the piece. But there is another which, though not equally strong, is equally fatal: there is no progression of interest, there is no involution of plot, there is no development of character" (Star, 14 Mar.). Other notices of the opening night were much in the same vein. Subsequently Colman revised the play, and it held the stage for many years. "The curtailments which have been made shorten the representation near an hour and a half, and the alterations are many and judicious" (Morning Herald, 21 Mar. 1796). Morning Herald, 23 July 1796: This Day is published The Iron Chest (2s.). Receipts: #471 9s. (468.13; 2.16)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 20 years [not acted since 29 Apr. 1774]. "In the scene where Varanes kills himself, Kemble...was peculiarly striking. His manner of sheathing the sword in his body, after he has exclaimed, 'I feel the art'ry where the life-blood lies! It heaves against the point!-Now-Oh ye gods!' astonished us; and we turned, with horror, from the sight" (Monthly Visitor, Feb. 1797, p. 161). "I asked [Mrs Siddons] in which part she would most wish me to see her? She named Portia in the Merchant of Venice; but I begged to be excused...Mrs Siddons's warmest devotes do not hold her above a demigoddess in comedy. I have chosen Athenais;...her scorn is admirable" (Walpole [15 Jan. 1788], XIV, 42). Receipts: #231 9s. (175.2; 54.14; 1.13)

Event Comment: Account-Book: Tickets delivered by Ledger, Claremont, Goostree. Mrs Dick, Mrs Egan will be admitted. 2nd piece [1st time; M. INT 1, by Richard Cumberland. Larpent MS 1111; not published]: To conclude with an Illumination, Transparency, and a Rural Procession. The Music partly selected, and partly composed, by Shield. The Harp by Weippert. The Bells by Lawrence. With appropriate Scenery, Dresses, and Decorations. [Written in honour of the Royal Marriage" [see dl, 13 May] (Morning Herald, 19 May). "If we are to have these repeated Congratulations, let them be written by men of spirit and invention. The public are miserably placed, in cases like the present: between a respect for their King and a respect for their own understandings, they know not how to act" (Monthly Visitor, May 1797, pp. 454-55, which also includes a brief synopsis of the plot). Receipts: #254 9s. 6d. (84.0.0; 11.2.6; tickets: 159.7.0)

Event Comment: A Serious Opera (1st time [in London; 1st performed at Rome, 1766]); the music partly by Sarti and partly [i.e. with additions] by Paisiello. 2nd ballet: With entire new scenes by Degotti and executed by himself and Marinari. "The dresses [in this ballet] are said to be after designs from David; the costume is correct, perhaps, but it may be a little softened without injury to the effect. The contrast of colours is in some of them too harsh...The scenery is in a new stile. It has been our taste to assist the perspective by contracting the stage to a point. This was but a clumsy method, as the illusion was rarely complete, and it gave the idea of littleness. In this instance the stage is thrown open on every side, and the perspective is managed as every painter is obliged to manage it, on the broad surface, but still with the mechanic aids which scenery affords. The effect was enchanting" (Morning Chronicle, 30 Nov.). The Doors to be opened at 6:30. To begin at 7:30 [same throughout season]. Pit 10s. 6d. Gallery 5s. No Money to be returned. The Subscribers are most earnestly entreated to observe that, on account of the abuses frequently practised in their names, it has become absolutely necessary to adopt the former rule for Subscribers themselves to produce their Tickets at the doors as they pass into the Theatre. The Upper Boxes to be lett by the night, at one Guinea each for four persons. The way to them through the Gallery Staircase

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time: MD 5, by James Boaden]: With new Musick [by Michael Kelly], Dresses, and Decorations. [Scenery by Capon (Theatre Notebook, XIX, 14).] Morning Chronicle, 16 Jan. 1799: This Day is published Aurelio and Miranda (2s.). Receipts: #271 16s. (218.15.0; 51.19.6; 1.1.6)

Event Comment: p Comic Opera; the music by Paisiello. 2nd ballet: Originally composed by D'Auberval, and brought out with new Episodes and Dances by D'Egville [with music by Bossi], The Doors to be opened at 6:15. To begin at 7:15 [same throughout opera season]. Single tickets for the night, for pit or gallery, to be had at the office of the Theatre. [Sga Bolla was from the opera, Milan. Sga Clara's name is not in the playbill, but "The second comic opera singer, Sga Clara, was also new...There is much sweetness and delicacy in her voice, and perhaps it may be owing to her evident timidity that it did not seem to possess strength and compass in proportion" (Monthly Visitor, Jan. 1800, p. 71). Deshayes was from the Opera, Madrid.

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; MD 5, by Richard Cumberland. Author of Prologue unknown]: A Romance of the Fourteenth Century, Formed upon the Plan of an unpublished Drama [Johanna von Montfaucon], written and transmitted by Augustus von Kotzebue, The Overture, Songs, Chorusses, Marches and Finale, with appropriate Symphonies between the Acts, by Busby. The Scenery, Dresses, Machinery & Decorations entirely New. The Scenery by Richards, Phillips, Lupino, Hollogan, &c. The arrangement of the Marches, Chorusses & Military Movements incidental to the Piece, under the direction of Farley. The Dresses by Dick and Mrs Egan. The Words of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. "The appropriate beauty of the scenery, in which the rules of perspective are critically observed, the splendour of the decorations and the richness of the dresses, have been rarely equalled" (Universal Magazine, Jan. 1800, p. 75). Receipts: #318 6d. (316.2; 2.4)

Event Comment: Benefit Woolley and Mrs James. Mainpiece: Written by the late Mr Gay. Afterpiece: By particular Desire

Event Comment: Benefit Mrs Sandham and Mrs Pullen. Afterpiece: A Pastoral Ballad of one Act. [Author not known. Apparently not published.

Event Comment: Benefit for Reinhold. Tickets delivered for The Comedy of Errors will be admitted. Books of the Catches and Glees to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 8 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Reinhold, No. 90, Charlotte-street, Rathbone-place