Theatre Royal, Haymarket

“ In the same way the performances at the summer theatre, the Haymarket, at the commencement and close of its season, often came into collision with the entertainments of the winter houses, and the actor engaged by two masters, and anxious to serve both faithfully, had a very arduous time of it. How could he possibly be present at the Haymarket and yet not absent from Drury Lane or Covent Garden? As a rule the patent theatres had the preference, and the summer theatre was compelled for a few nights to be content with a very scanty company. ”

“ They then all join in a chorus of singing and dancing; which concludes the entertainment."
The London Journal says, that the Managers received 260l. entrance-money the first night, from which we may judge of the size of the Theatre when greatly crowded.
The Universal Journal of December 18, 1723, has the following article: "On Thursday last a new play-house was opened in the Haymarket. The company, we are informed, consists of persons who never appeared in public before. ”

“ I cannot, however, help observing that many large doors seem so obviously necessary in Theatres, that I dare not attempt to account for the diminutive size of the two through which the audience actually creep in the pit of Covent-garden Theatre. An alarm of fire in that house must end fatally, whether it spread, or was immediately extinguished [310:A] .
The amusements of the present day are very confined: the two Theatres and the Opera for the winter, and the Haymarket for the summer, are [311] the only established places of entertainment ”

“ Sir George in the ‘Busybody,’ Baron Wildenhaim in ‘Lovers' Vows,’ Puff in the ‘Critic,’ followed in the season of 1808–9, when, after the fire at Covent Garden, the company migrated to the Haymarket Opera House, and subsequently, 3 Dec., to the Haymarket Theatre. The disappearance in 1809 from the London stage of Lewis, his predecessor and model, left the light-comedy parts at Jones's disposal. ”

“ Nevertheless, if only to avoid confusion in the future, it will be well to enumerate the several London theatres in 1728, the more especially as the list is by no means lengthy. First and foremost there was the old Opera House in the Haymarket, built by Vanbrugh, as far back as 1705, upon the site now occupied by Her Majesty’s Theatre. ”

“ Cibber ("Apology," chap. x.) complains that Rich paid extraordinary prices to singers, dancers, and other exotic performers, which were as constantly deducted out of the sinking salaries of his actors. In December, 1709, the Lord Chamberlain ordered that no new representations were to be brought upon the stage which were not necessary to the better performance of comedy or opera, "such as ladder-dancing, antic postures," &c., without his leave.— (Lord Chamberlain's Records, Warrant Book, No. 22.)
[184]
Sir John Vanbrugh built the Haymarket Theatre in 1705. ”

“ Nor has the Abbé done full justice to the public opposition offered to the Licensing Act. At the Haymarket Theatre a serious riot occurred in October, 1738, fifteen months after the passing of the measure. Closed against the English actors the theatre was opened by a French company, armed with a license from the Lord Chamberlain. A comedy, called "L'Embarras de Richesses," was announced for representation "by authority." The house was crowded immediately after the opening of the doors. But the audience soon gave evidence of their sentiments by singing in chorus "The Roast Beef of Old England." ”

“ In 1878 he resigned his appointment at the Haymarket Theatre in order to devote himself to the more legitimate branches of art, but still painted occasionally for the stage, his latest work in that line including new act-drops for the new Sadler's Wells Theatre, the St. ”

“ In 1732, Arne’s father dabbled in music as a business speculation; induced to do so, perhaps, by the remarkable talent of his children. He and others, without permission, and without consulting Handel, announced performances of that composer’s works at the theatre in the Haymarket. An advertisement of May the 10th reads: “At the theatre in the Haymarket on Thursday the 12th inst. Acis and Galatea, a pastoral drama set by Mr. Handel will be performed, with all the choruses, songs, machines and other [Pg 9] decorations: being the first time it ever was performed in a theatrical way. ”

“ As he enters this new line of route, he will perceive that the buildings assume a more important aspect. They are for the most part stucco-fronted, and being frequently re-painted, they have a light and cheerful appearance. In the Haymarket are Her Majesty’s Theatre and the Haymarket Theatre; and near at hand are many club-houses and Exhibition-rooms. Pall Mall displays a range of stone-fronted club-houses of great magnificence. At the foot of Regent Street is the short broad thoroughfare of Waterloo Place, lined with noble houses, and leading southwards to St. James’s Park. ”

“ From Collier, there went over to the Haymarket, under Swiney, Betterton, Wilks, Cibber, Dogget, Mills, Mrs. Barry, Oldfield, and other actors of mark. Drury had opened with Dryden. The Queen's Theatre, Haymarket, commenced its season on the 15th of September 1709, with Shakspeare. The play was "Othello," with Betterton in the Moor; but oh! shade of the bard of Avon, there was between the acts a performance by "a Mr. Higgins, a posture-master from Holland," and the critics, silently admiring "old Thomas," loudly pronounced the feats of the pseudo-Hollander to be "marvellous." ”

“ The works of the young Templar, and his connection with Betterton, introduced him to all the writers and wits of his day. He and Vanbrugh, though rivals, were fellow-workers, and our glorious Haymarket Theatre, which has gone on at times when Drury and Covent Garden have been in despair, owes its origin to their confederacy. But Vanbrugh's theatre was on the site of the present Opera House, and the Haymarket was set up as a rival concern. Vanbrugh's was built in 1705, and met the usual fate of theatres, being burnt down some eighty-four years after. ”

“ What, for example, can be more absurd than, in the dog-days, when room and air are particularly requisite, that the lovers of dramatic amusement in the British metropolis are to be crammed into a little theatre in the Haymarket, and stewed year after year, as in a sweating-room at a bagnio, because half a century ago an exclusive privilege was inconsiderately granted? ”

“ In 1836 he went to America, where he remained at the Park theatre, New York, for seventeen years. His début in Lond was nominally made at the Haymarket on 28 March 1853 as Sir Anthony Absolute. He had, however, some twenty years earlier played at the Victoria the Lord Mayor in 'Richard III' as a substitute for his father. At the Haymarket he took the lead in courtly comedy. ”

“ Towards the end of 1710 Handel, who was then twenty-seven years of age, came over to England upon the invitation of several noblemen, whose acquaintance he had made at the Court of Hanover; and here he wrote, for Aaron Hill, who then managed the Haymarket Theatre, his opera of 'Rinaldo,' the first advertisement of which contains a silly blunder as to dates. 'By Subscription. At the Queen's Theatre in the Hay Market, this present Saturday being the 24th day of February, will be perform'd a new Opera, call'd Rinaldo. Tickets and Books will be delivered out at Mr. White's Chocolate House in St. ”

“ At the New Theatre in James-street near the Haymarket, on Monday next, will be performed a Concert of vocal and instrumental Musick, divided into Two Parts. Boxes 3s. Pit 2s. Gallery 1s. Between the two parts of the Concert will be performed a Tragedy, call’d The Fatal Curiosity, written by the late Mr. Lillo, author of George Barnwell. The part of Mrs. Wilmot by Mrs. Charke (who originally performed it at the Haymarket;) The rest of the parts by a Set of People who will perform as well as they can, if not as well as they wou’d, and the best can do no more. ”

“ F—— called: and Geiseveiller before and after seeing the Road to Ruin for the first time at the Haymarket. This perhaps is the only theatre in the three kingdoms, Drury-Lane and the Opera-House excepted, at which it has not been acted more probably fifty times than once. The custom of the theatres prevents 194its being performed in London, except at Covent-Garden, where it first appeared.
15th.—Wrote to Harris and Robinson. Went to Mrs. B——, who requested my advice and aid, concerning a novel. A lively woman, upwards of sixty; widow of Dr. ”

“ Younger, a kind, benevolent man, as well as an excellent manager. He took the greatest interest in the young actress, and treated her as his own child. He strongly advised her to go to London, and gave her an introduction to Colman, who at that time controlled the destinies of the Haymarket Theatre, and who was all powerful in the theatrical world, being a dramatic author as well as a capable and experienced manager.
On the 9th June, 1777, Eliza Farren appeared at the Haymarket in the character of Kate Hardcastle, in Goldsmith's comedy, "She Stoops to Conquer." ”

“ A second great fire, on December 6th, 1867, again destroyed the building, which was subsequently re-erected with its principal frontage in Pall Mall, at a great cost; this in its turn we have seen disappear, and the new “His Majesty’s Theatre” rise on its site, with its chief entrance in the Haymarket, and a long frontage to Charles Street. Luckily, the old arcade is embodied in the new building, and here are still to be seen those dear little shops that look so clean and prosperous and yet so diminutive—like a sort of Tom Thumbs among business establishments! ”

“ Midnight: the play is over, and the audience pour from the Haymarket Theatre. The aristocratic opera season is concluded by this time of the year, and the lovers of the drama have it all their own way. Crowds of jovial young clerks and spruce law students cluster beneath the portico, yet convulsed by the humours of Mr. Buckstone. Happy families of rosy children, radiant in lay-down collars, white skirts and pink sashes, trot from the entrance to the dress-circle under the wing of benevolent papa and stout good-humoured mamma, with a white burnous, and a tremendous fan ”

“ From a drawing by John Leech.
"Her Majesty's Theatre," on the western side of the Haymarket, was the original of the two Italian opera-houses in London; it was built in 1790, on the site of an older theatre, burnt down in 1867, and rebuilt in 1869. The freehold of some of the boxes was sold for as much as £8,000 each. The opera season was generally from March to August; but the main attractions and the largest audiences were found from May to July. ”

“ In the same month that the Haymarket Theatre was opened, by an instrument dated 9 June 1705 and signed by Godolphin, Vanbrugh, by the special request of the Duke of Marlborough, was appointed architect and surveyor of the palace it was proposed to erect at Woodstock in commemoration of the victory of Blenheim. ”

“ Even in London it is only the “stars” who have an apartment to themselves. At such an excellently conducted theatre as the Haymarket, Miss Winifred Emery has to mount long flights between every act. Suppose she has to change her costume four times [Pg 276] in the play, she must ascend those stone stairs five times in the course of each evening, or, in other words, walk up two hundred and fifty steps in addition to the fatigue of acting and the worry of quick changing, while on matinée days this exertion is doubled. She is a leading lady ”

“ In October 1847 he was appointed by Madame Vestris musical director of the Lyceum Theatre, and remained there for two years. About this time he wrote a cantata entitled ‘O Incomprehensible Creator,’ which was performed at Hullah's concert, 21 May 1851. At Easter 1853 he became musical director of the Haymarket Theatre, and held that position until his death. His principal compositions were ‘The Queen of a Day,’ a comic opera, and ‘A Summer Night's Love,’ an operetta, both produced at the Haymarket. ”

“ We never saw them better entertained. But surely the Slang dance which is introduced might be very properly omitted:—it is too vulgar for so elegant, and well conducted, a theatre."— (Times, Feb. 5, 1793.)
"The private boxes at the Haymarket Theatre are so thinly partitioned, that we are surprised any person should deem them proper places to recapitulate domestic bickerings."— (Times, Feb. 6, 1793.)
The following is apropos of Mrs. Jordan:—
"Performers at the Theatres are now paid more liberally than heretofore. ”

“ It ran for 230 nights. 'Pygmalion and Galatea,' a rather artificial classical romance, was produced also at the Haymarket on 9 Dec. 1871. It proved a remarkable success. The play was revived at the Lyceum with Miss Mary Anderson in 1884 and later in 1888, at the same theatre, with Miss Julia Neilson in the part. Gilbert is said to have made 40,000l. out of this play alone (Daily Telegraph, 30 May 1911) . 'The Wicked World,' a fairy comedy, followed at the Haymarket on 4 Jan. ”

“ He played two nights at the Surrey, and insulted the audience for preferring Thomas Cobham [q. v.] On 16 June 1830 he appeared practically for the first time at the Haymarket, and played four parts that season. Contemplating a third visit to America, he appeared at the Haymarket Opera House on 19 July 1830 in acts from five plays. The announcement that it was his farewell attracted a large audience. After a further retirement to Bute he reappeared at Drury Lane on 31 Jan. ”