Event Comment: Christopher Rich's Company.
The date of
the resumption of playing is not certain, for Cibber (see below) beclouds
the issue by referring to
Easter-Monday in April, whereas
the first Monday following
Easter fell on 25 March 1694@5. Never
theless, Monday 1 April 1695 seems
the likely date of
the resumption of playing, with
Rich's Company ready to perform before
the seceding company under
Thomas Betterton was fully organized. A new song for
Abdelazar,
Lucinda is bewitching fair,
the music by
Henry Purcell and sung by "
the Boy" (
Jemmy? Bowen), is in
Thesaurus Musicus,
The Fourth Book, 1695.
Cibber, Apology, I, 195: [
The Patentees] were not able to take
the Field till
the Easter-Monday in April following.
Their first Attempt was a reviv'd Play call'd
Abdelazar, or the Moor's Revenge, poorly written, by
Mrs Behn.
The House was very full, but whe
ther it was
the Play or
the Actors that were not approved,
the next Day's Audience sunk to nothing. However, we assured that let
the Audiences be never so low, our Masters would make good all Deficiencies, and so indeed
they did, till towards
the End of
the Season, when Dues to Ballance came too think upon 'em. [See I, 195-96, for Cibber's account of his
Prologue.]
A Comparison Between the Two Stages, 1702, p. 7: But in my Opinion, 'twas strange that
the general defection of
the old Actors which left Drury-lane, and
the fondness which
the better sort shew'd for 'em at
the opening of
their Newhouse, and indeed
the Novelty it self, had not quite destroy'd those few young ones that remain'd behind.
The disproportion was so great at parting, that 'twas almost impossible, in
Drury-lane, to muster up a sufficient number to take in all
the Parts of any Play; and of
them so few were tolerable, that a Play must of necessity be damn'd that had not extraordinary favour from
the Audience: No fewer than Sixteen (most of
the old standing) went away; and with
them
the very beauty and vigour of
the Stage;
they who were left behind being for
the most part Learners,
Boys and Girls, a very unequal match for
them who revolted. According to a statement made in litigation,
the company in
Drury Lane acted 84 times between 25 March 1694@5 and 7 July 1695; and
the Young Actors played 68 times from 6 July 1695 to 10 Oct. 1695 to 10 Oct. 1695. See
Hotson,
Commonwealth and Restoration Stage, p. 308