The Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest for Summer 1810 Ed. John W. Brokaw

The Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest for Summer 1810
Ed. John W. Brokaw

John P. Bologna and his wife had been with Charles Dibdin, the younger, at Sadler's Wells and Dublin for several years. The announcements for this season claimed Bologna and Mrs. Wybrow were the first Harlequin and Columbine in Europe. Even allowing for the usual puffery of nineteenth (and twentieth) century theatre managers, this statement serves to remind the reader of the quality of performances at the Sans Pareil--even in its early days.

John Bologna was often billed as "Junior." The father, his wife and two sons "Jack" and Louis, and daughter Barbara were all on the stage. John had some knowledge of chemistry and general science and was later to become a popular Lenten performer at the Adelphi. His "Pictorial, Optical and Mechanical Exhibitions" were popular for many seasons.

The season included several songs performed mainly by William Pearman, who was to become a major singer on the stage, and John Isaacs. The former sang "Bound Prentice to a Waterman" which was to be a favorite at the theatre. Isaacs was to suffer the terrible misfortune of losing his sight some twenty years later, leading to a benefit at Covent Garden where "the public so liberally expressed their commiseration" (Dibdin Memoirs, p. 102).

There were some dances, including a "hornpipe of three" and a "hornpipe in fetters." In the course of Fortune's Gift (28 May 1810), the comic dance from Mother Goose was performed by Richard Norman and Auld.

Master Edwards, four years old, performed "Protean exercises," but what various forms they took is not described. On May 28, despite his youth, he did a "drunken and dying" scene and on June 25 "several feats of activity"--again not described.

The number of performances this season is impossible to calculate accurately because sources are limited, but the season certainly lasted longer than the summer season of 1808. It was considerably less stressful than the season at the new Covent Garden Theatre, which had been truncated by the "Old Price" riots, lasting from 18 September to 15 December 1809.

Pieces remained essentially non-dramatic, in keeping with Scott's magistrate's license. There was an emphasis on pantomime and spectacle performed by some of the prominent names of the stage, Richard Norman, Jack Bologna, and Mrs. Wybrow. There were three ballets because the company was composed in part of the Covent Garden Corps de Ballet.

It was the last summer season for these Covent Garden performers, but it is safe to assume the public was satisfied Bologna and Holland had "strained every nerve" and gained "the liberal sanction of a generous public."

JB GBC

The Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest for 1810-1811

Ed. Frank McHugh

The Scott family was again very active. One ballet, The Soldier's Frolic, was composed and danced by Goodwin, the new ballet master and choreographer. All other pieces were written by Jane M. Scott, that "gifted artiste, and I may say Genius" (Charles Dibdin, the younger, Memoirs, p. 97). Miss Scott acted in four of her pieces, giving well over a hundred performances. Proprietor John Scott managed the theatre and served as machinist. Bills call special attention to his "mechanical fall of snow" and other spectacular effects in the pantomime The Magic Pipe; or, Dancing Mad. John Scott's son designed at least two scenes for this same piece.

The Sans Pareil had evolved beyond the stage when everything depended on Jane Scott's imagination and her father's business acumen. Maurice W. Disher recalls those first seasons: "While she acted her own heroines, John Scott, in his shirt sleeves, packed people closer to increase the takings by five pounds a night" (Blood and Thunder, p. 216). Perhaps another quality of the Scotts that Disher cites, their respect for the stage and their hospitality to actors, explains the rapid development of their company. At any rate, it is not one-woman shows that distinguish this 1810-1811 season, but pantomimes, farces and variety acts--all requiring a diverse and able company.

The Sans Pareil presented a pantomime every evening. The Magic Pipe ran for sixty-three consecutive nights, gave way to sixteen performances of The Necromancer; or, The Golden Key, which had played in the previous season, and then returned for a run of thirteen more nights. Auld, Harlequin at the Haymarket in 1806, was the company's Harlequin; Miss Ruggles danced Columbine; Goodwin played Lover; and James Barnes appeared as Pantaloon. By 1829, the Times was declaring Barnes "the best Pantaloon on the stage." Later in his career, as A. E. Wilson said, "he was unique and unsurpassable; the most perfect type imaginable of senile imbecility, receiving knocks and cuffs with placid resignation and tottering about as if he perpetually expected to be knocked down and set up again like a nine pin" (King Panto, p. 115). The versatile James Kirby, who would be at Drury Lane in 1811, was principal Clown, occasionally replaced by young George Bristow, brother-in-law to both Grimaldi and Jack Bologna, who was just beginning his career in the minor theatres and the provinces.

In his study of the music hall, The Early Doors, Harold Scott notes that the Sans Pareil and the Lyceum were the leading variety theatres in the West End of London during the early nineteenth century (p. 93). The performances at the Sans Pareil, E. Beresford Chancellor says, "were first of that heterogeneous character associated with the careers of some of the smaller theatres, and a medley of 'turns', much akin to those of a music hall, preceded the legitimate drama here" (Pleasure Haunts of London, pp. 123-4). A bill for the final evening of the 1810-1811 season shows the strength of the Sans Pareil in this respect and suggests the varied entertainments presented throughout the season but seldom announced on the bills. Many favorite songs were sung on 6 April: "Live and be Jolly," "Bonny Lad," "Old Times," "Bag of Nails," "Four and Twenty Lord Mayors' Shows," "Let Fame Sound the Trumpet," and "Miss Muggins." Goodwin, Miss Ward and Miss Lever danced a triple hornpipe. In addition, George Bristow starred in a scene from Dibdin's aqua drama The Wild Man, "by permission of the proprietors of Sadler's Wells." This scene, often given on benefit nights and first played by Grimaldi, showed "the powerful influence of music over even the savage mind" (Dibdin's Memoirs, p. 102).

On other evenings this season, Miss Acres sang Vauxhall songs, and Mr. Rose, visiting from Astley's Amphitheatre, sang James Sanderson's "Lilly from Jamaica; or, The Negro in London." Herr Schmidt offered a trumpet concerto "performed for the first time on an instrument which lately cost one hundred guineas, being of silver, rimmed with gold, and the tone melodiously beautiful."

Henry Hengler, the Vauxhall ropewalker and father of Frederick Charles Hengler, founder of Hengler's Circus, danced "with baskets, also boys, tied to his feet and one on his shoulder." James Barnes more than once thrilled the audience when he made his flight from the gallery "with accompaniment on the trumpet."

The roster for this season names twenty-three actors and twenty-one actresses. Joining the company for the first time and for short stays were Bristow, Miss Acres from Vauxhall Gardens ("first time on any stage"), Asker from the Theatre Royal Dublin, and J. Lewis from the Theatre Royal Manchester. Goodwin, ballet master for this season, "late of Covent Garden," was probably the "Master Goodwin" who performed at Covent Garden 1796-1803, son of the Covent Garden performers Thomas and Eleanor Goodwin. Daly began his long tenure this season, joining his wife and such other stalwarts as Godbee, Robert Stebbing and C. H. Simpson.

The company presented eight pieces on the approximately ninety-two evenings of this season, which began on 3 December 1810 and concluded on 6 April 1811.

FM