Book Review

Re-examining the Margins of Eighteenth-Century English Drama

Roxanne Kent-Drury
Northern Kentucky University

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William J. Burling. Summer Theatre in London, 1661-1820, and the Rise of the Haymarket Theatre (London: Associated University Presses, 2000). Pp. 326. $45.00 cloth.

Charlotte Charke. A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke. Ed. Robert Rehder (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1999). Pp. 171. $50.00 cloth.

William J. Burling's meticulously researched book, Summer Theatre in London, 1661-1820, and the Rise of the Haymarket Theatre, fills a significant gap in eighteenth-century theatre history with its compelling argument that summer theatre in London from 1661-1820 was a thriving and often lucrative enterprise. Burling especially emphasizes the importance of the Haymarket Theatre, long considered a marginal venue occupied only sporadically by itinerant companies and, occasionally, by actors (e.g., Theophilus Cibber and Charlotte Charke) and playwrights (e.g., Henry Fielding and George Lillo) either unable to find work with the patent theatres or engaged in disputes with their managers. Burling, however, argues that the Haymarket's influence on eighteenth-century theatre history in general has been underestimated, that nearly every important theatrical figure of the period had some connection with the Haymarket, and that some of the most important theatrical innovations and long lasting additions to theatre repertories were first attempted in summer theatre.

Burling sets out to correct two earlier misconceptions about the Haymarket: first, the impression given by earlier scholars that the Haymarket's management, repertory, and theatrical practices were consistent, and, second, that the Haymarket was on the margins of the theatrical world. Instead, Burling argues that practices varied so much over time that only a season-by-season analysis can elucidate them. Such an analysis demonstrates that the Haymarket "served as the home for the most important developments in summer theatre" (10), the effects of which were compelling despite schedule disruptions caused by the Licensing Act of 1737, patent theatre activities, and restrictions on theatrical variety.

This book covers a dynamic topic of enormous complexity. The summer seasons from 1660-1760 differed from the regular seasons in that summer activities were primarily temporary enterprises operating under special licenses or with the permission of the patent houses. Tracing summer theatre's development from the fledgling "young companies" of inexperienced actors to the officially patented Haymarket managed by Foote and later the Colemans, Burling has done an excellent job of reconfiguring from widely disparate and frequently sketchy documentary evidence the structure of the vastly idiosyncratic summer seasons, with their fluctuating companies, management, repertories, legitimacy, and popularity.

Almost as interesting as this little known theatrical venue is Burling's nondeclaratory style: one learns as much about the process of how a theatre historian forms conclusions as one learns about the conclusions themselves. Although this compilation of details and statistics does not make for a quick read, the reader who takes the time will find pleasurable the process by which Burling confirms or overturns points in earlier scholarship, describing the problem and the entire range of earlier conclusions about it, analyzing and detailing the evidence, and [End Page 116] presenting a detailed argument supporting a new conclusion. Despite the complexity of the story, the structure of the book is highly accessible, and though one sometimes wishes for more signposts, Burling provides occasional summaries that bring the reader back to the main thread of the central argument.

An example of Burling's care in re-evaluating earlier assumptions is revealed by comparing one factual discrepancy between Burling's analysis of Charlotte Charke's theatre activities and that of Robert Rehder in his introduction to a new edition of Charlotte Charke's Narrative (reviewed below). Rehder's introduction repeats a commonplace in Charke scholarship: that her last known performance was at the Haymarket, where she obtained a license in 1759 to perform with a company for ten nights, but that she only performed one night, possibly because she was too ill to finish (lxv). Burling's careful analysis of contemporary performance records, however, suggests that even though Charke's name was not explicitly listed for every performance, neither were those of most of her fellow actors. Because the troupe did complete the run and reviews of its performances survive, Charke may well have been one of the performers anyway (113).

Overall, Burling's chapters cover chronologically coherent periods; subsections in turn address individual theatre operations, management and finance, repertory, censorship, innovation, lease arrangements, theatre structural changes, influences of the patent houses on summer theatre operations, cast information, and rosters of actors. Of particular interest are Burling's chapters that mention Christopher Smart's successful appearances as "Mother Midnight" in the summer of 1754; Samuel Foote's success in becoming the first patentee to occupy the New Haymarket Theater (1760-1776); and the careers of his successors, George Coleman the Elder (1777-1788) and the Younger (1789-1818). These chapters show a thriving summer theatre more profitable at times than the main patent houses during the regular season. Using financial data, contemporary accounts, and a fresh look at uncritically accepted contemporary journalism, Burling demonstrates that both Foote and the Colemans earned substantial incomes from highly popular summer theatre. In addition, although Coleman the Younger (1789-1818) made some poor business decisions, Burling makes a compelling case that the primary reason for his ongoing shortage of funds was not an unprofitable theatre, but rather the residual effects of having lost most of his inheritance when his father's savings were embezzled by a trusted banker, a situation that left Coleman's operation perpetually under-capitalized.

Another outstanding contribution in this book is the "Haymarket Theatre Performance Calendar, 1801-1820," which complements the calendars in The London Stage and which Burling describes as "the first complete record to be published for any major theatre during those years" (12). In addition to providing dates and plays performed, the appendix includes detailed lists of cast members and supporting personnel, complete repertory lists with performance figures, and, where available, breakdowns of income and expenses.

The memoirs of one of the Haymarket's more colorful tenants, Charlotte Charke, is again in print with publication of Robert Rehder's new library edition of A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke. Recently available editions of Charke's narrative have included only the 1969 Scholars and Facsimile Reprints edition and Fidelis Morgan's Well Known Troublemaker (1988), a modernized version that is now out of print. Rehder's volume is well edited, providing extensive and cogent content notes that explain Charke's more cryptic comments. Also helpful to the reader encountering Charke's quirky style for the first time is [End Page 117] Rehder's introductory essay, which includes background information pertaining to Charke's troubled relationship with her father, for whom she wrote the Narrative, at least nominally, as a gesture of reconciliation. Rehder also writes about Charke's more traditional activities as wife, daughter, and mother, and about her escapades as legitimate actress, theatre manager, prompter, strolling player, prison inmate, puppeteer, "Brown" the pastry cook, husband-for-a-day to Mrs. Brown, and proprietress of "Mrs. Charke's Stake and Soup House." Rehder also notes with amusement Charke's penchant for "hats" and with regret her disinheritance and her demise in poverty. In the process, Rehder analyzes Charke's allusions to the transgressions she never names, speculating that her family may simply have objected to her insistent cross-dressing, or, as Rehder surmises from an explicit reference to male homosexuality in her novel Henry Dumont, that her family may have suspected or even known that she was bisexual.

Of particular value is Rehder's detailed "Chronology" of Charke's life. In addition to basic facts, Rehder provides considerable information about the plays in which Charke acted, her income, the management of the theatres in which she worked, and other significant events in the lives of family members. The theatre information in particular reminds us of Charke's versatility as an actress and provides a detailed account of her gradual move from playing women's roles to playing male parts. Finally, Rehder provides a useful list of "Suggestions for Further Reading"; however, the list seems somewhat unspecialized for a scholarly library edition of a single work, and this book is, unfortunately, too expensive for use as a course textbook.