The Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest for 1825-1826 Ed. Alfrida Lee

The Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest for 1825-1826
Ed. Alfrida Lee

There were some valuable additions to the company. Both managers were well-known performers. Terry, a friend of Sir Walter Scott and adapter of some of his novels for the stage, had appeared at Drury Lane, Covent Garden and the Haymarket. Yates had appeared at Covent Garden and had considerable experience in Edinburgh and some provincial towns. In addition to acting, he had established a reputation as an entertainer in one-man performances, chiefly imitations, in the style of Charles Mathews. T. P. Cooke came from Covent Garden, Mrs. Fitzwilliam from Drury Lane, and Gouriet from Covent Garden.

The management proposed, "to place its entertainments on a higher footing than they have hitherto occupied." Evidently, a good beginning was made as the Times said of the performances, "Upon the whole they were decidedly of a higher order than any which had before been presented at the theatre; and were received with general satisfaction by the audience crowded in all parts." The great success of the season was The Pilot, being played to crowded houses and having a run of more than one hundred nights. The author, Edward Fitzball, wrote, "It was asserted, and I have no doubt of its truth, that the managers cleared upwards of 7,000 pounds by the production ... and I must admit that much of this was due to their own exertions and talents" (Thirty-five Years of a Dramatist's Life, I, 162). There is further comment on the improved quality of the performances on 3 November: "Taken altogether, the entertainments at this theatre are extremely well-arranged and amusing, and incomparably above the standard of minor-house performances in general." By the end of December, however, the Times had few compliments for the pantomime, The Three Golden Lamps; or, Harlequin and the Wizard Dwarf, which did not give the impression of the long preparation claimed for it on the bills. The scene-shifting especially seemed clumsy and time-consuming. A trio was considered indecent. One scene was deleted after the first week. Christmas Boxes was "a clever production" though it "trenches a little too much on the indelicate and improper."

Overall, melodrama and humor seemed to be the keynotes of the season's productions. The Anaconda, which was favorably received, included both. Anticlimax was achieved by the appearance of the snake of very moderate size.

One other production worthy of comment was Success; it appears to be the first attempt in England to introduce a "Revue." a genre already popular in Paris (James R. Planché, Recollections, 1872).

From the Times it appears that the performers acquitted themselves well, especially T. P. Cooke and John Reeve in The Pilot and The Anaconda. The critic expressed surprise that they had not been engaged at one of "the two great theatres."

Artistic effects were achieved with the scenery for new pieces, and there was great ingenuity shown in the machinery.

A numerous audience attended major productions. The Anaconda must have had family appeal as the children (and the gallery) loudly applauded the serpent (Times, 24 January 1826). The audience was not always appreciative. On December 26 1825, the police had to be called to deal with a disturbance in the gallery, which rendered two of the pieces inaudible.

M. Henry again gave the Lenten Entertainment continuing into Passion Week. This was in the same style as previous seasons with some variation in content.

After the season, Yates's Reminiscences drew a crowded audience on the first night, but there was a disturbance in the gallery. "Vollies of shot ... were poured into the pit." Yates acted promptly and "sent an officer into the gallery to seize the offenders."

From April to June there were 30 performances of Yates's Reminiscences, for which there was mostly favorable criticism in the Times, though some of the entertainment was considered indifferent. The second part of Yates' program was Mr. Chairman, a dramatic monologue which Fitzball claimed to have written, though he gave the date as 1829 (Thirty-five Years of a Dramatist's Life, I, 193).

The theatre opened again on 26 June 1826, for a benefit for the Royalty Theatre, which had been destroyed by fire. On 10 July, Mrs. Cruse took the theatre for one night, after which the theatre was dark until the next season.

AL

The Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest for 1826-1827
Ed. Alfrida Lee

Two performers, highly praised in the previous season, are noted for their experience elsewhere during the summer: T. P. Cooke, "whose fame acquired as Tom Coffin in Paris seems to have added new attraction," and John Reeve, "who comes with increased strength after his success at the Haymarket." A newcomer to the Adelphi Theatre, Mrs. Hughes, is described as "a pleasant available actress." She appears to have been an asset to the company, appearing in various roles. A duet by her and Salter was encored in a performance of Luke the Labourer in October (the Wasp, 27 October 1826), although the piece as a whole received adverse criticism, chiefly on moral grounds. The audience was made to sympathize with Luke, who had been dismissed for habitual drunkenness. Luke's wife dies of starvation (surely a cause for sympathy) and Luke has revenge on his former master. The moral judgment is made because the disaster really results from Luke's drinking habits. The performance had merit. The acting on the whole was excellent and the music "pretty." The critic concludes, "We have no doubt it will run the season." The piece was performed nightly with a break of nine nights until 2 December, one week later in December and again at intervals during March 1827, and the first week of April, being one of the last night items. It was taken off on 13 November "owing to the indisposition of T. P. Cooke," whose presence was evidently essential to the success of the piece, and resumed on 23 November, "T. P. Cooke having recovered ... from his serious indisposition."

The Times reviewed the pantomime, Harlequin and the Eagle, on 27 December 1826. The criticism is worth quoting in full as it contrasts sharply and very favorably with the one accorded to Three Golden Lamps in the previous season.

Last night, a pantomime founded on the popular Irish story of Daniel O'Rourke's Journey to the Moon was performed at this theatre with the most perfect success. Considering the complexity of the machinery in entertainments of this nature, the tricks and changes were well conceived and managed with great facility. One of the most entertaining of these was the sudden appearance of Pantaloon in the middle of the pit at a time when he was supposed to be quietly seated in a chair preparatory to his being shaved. Paulo, as the Clown, distinguished himself particularly and Kirby, the Harlequin, and Miss Daly, the Columbine, performed some pretty dances. At one period there was so loud a call on Kirby for the hornpipe that he was obliged, in order to escape the displeasure of the audience, to come forward and dance the sailor's hornpipe. The scenery was very creditably executed, especially a view of the old and new London Bridge, and the pantomime promises, if we may judge from its reception at its first representation, to be a favourite.

At the same time, Drury Lane presented The Man in the Moon. The Times gives an interesting comment on the piece in relation to the Adelphi. Under the title "Behind the Curtain" and signed "The Opera Glass" is the following:

It is said, how truly we know not, that last year the subject of the pantomime to be performed at the Adelphi was given to Drury Lane, and by them rejected with some impertinence. If rejected at all, we should hope the latter part were incorrect. But when it was known, through some of those channels by means of which the best guarded secrets sometimes escape, that the Adelphi was getting up a pantomime on the subject, the Drury Lane people immediately took up the rejected subject, the manuscript of which they had never returned, and set it up as a rival. If these circumstances be exact, it is, to say the least of it, but shabby conduct.

The criticism that followed stated that the piece lacked "a well-conducted plot." Harlequin was only moderate, and Miss Barnett's Columbine, "a poor effort." There were "many clever scenes, ingenious tricks and transformations ... exquisite scenery and many pointed jokes." The pantomime was well received. The comparison with Harlequin and the Eagle is interesting.

The audiences at the Adelphi, as in the previous season, had at least one lapse from good conduct. Theatrical Observer of 13 February 1827 gives an account of a fight in the pit during a performance of The Pirate's Doom.

The regular season ended on 7 April; Yates' Entertainment, which began with Portraits and Sketches, followed by Mr. Chairman, (later replaced by Stop Thief), was given on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent and continued until 12 May. On the bill for 7 May, he explained the necessity of "curtailing his successful season" as alterations adjoining the theatre were to be commenced and would block the entrance.

AL