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An Examination of the Plays Produced by Madame Vestris during her Management of the Olympic Theatre in London from January 3, 1831 to May 31, 1839.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2010

James H. Butler
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Extract

One of the highpoints of theatrical management in London during the early part of the 19th century was achieved by Madame Vestris in the nine seasons she operated the Olympic Theatre from January 3, 1831 to May 31, 1839. Important contributions in management, acting and scenic decor were made and have been commented upon. The free list was suspended; the practice of “puffing” (praising a work in advance of actual performance) was abandoned; the final curtain was rung down each night at 11 P.M. instead of the usual hour of midnight; actors' benefit performances were abolished; failures were withdrawn as quickly as possible from further performances; and by allowing no one behind the scenes to visit with actors and actresses the general atmosphere backstage was improved.

Type
Research Article
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , November 1969 , pp. 136 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1969

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References

NOTES

1. Armstrong, William A., “Madame Vestris: A Centenary Appreciation,” Theatre Notebook, II, no. 1 (October-December, 1956), 11–18Google Scholar; Butler, James H., “Early Nineteenth-Century Stage Settings in the British Theatre,” Theatre Survey, Vol. 6, no. 1 (May, 1965), 54–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gilder, Rosamond, Enter the Actress: The First Women in the Theatre (New York and Boston, 1931), pp. 258–291Google Scholar; Hunter, Jack W., “Rise of Realism on the Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Stage,” The OSU Theatre Collection Bulletin, V, no. 1 (Spring, 1958), 29–30Google Scholar; Stager, Old (Mathew Mackintosh). Stage Reminiscences (Glasgow, 1870), pp. 51–86Google Scholar; Pearce, Charles E., Madame Vestris and Her Times (London, 1923), pp. 164–242Google Scholar; Rowell, George, The Victorian Theatre: A Survey (London, 1956), pp. 18–19Google Scholar; Watson, Ernest Bradlee, Sheridan To Robertson: A Study of the Nineteenth-Century London Stage (Cambridge, 1926), pp. 189–212CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Waitzkin, Leo, The Witch cfWych Street: A Study of the Theatrical Reforms of Madame Vestris (Cambridge, 1933), p. 67.Google Scholar

2. However, Mrs. Glover did take “a benefit on Easter Monday night” the first season Madame Vestris managed the Olympic Theatre. See Stager, Old, op. cit., p. 76.Google Scholar

3. Butler, , op. cit., p. 62.Google Scholar

4. Stager, Old, op. cit., pp. 74–75.Google Scholar

5. This tabulation is based on a careful perusal of the playbills for the Olympic Theatre contained in the Harvard Theatre Collection and in the Enthoven Theatre Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In order to establish the authors for each play they were checked against the Author and Title Catalogue at the Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California; the Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum: Plays Submitted to the Lord Chamberlain 1824–1851, published by the Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1964; and the “Hand-List of Plays” to be found in Nicoll, Allardyce, A History of English Drama: 1660–1900, IV: Early Nineteenth Century Drama 1800–1850 (Cambridge, 1955), pp. 245–643.Google Scholar

6. Madame Vestris turned over the management of the Olympic Theatre temporarily to J. R. Planché while she and her husband Charles James Mathews were on their American theatrical tour in the fall and part of the winter of 1838.

7. Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum: Plays Submitted to the Lord Chamberlain 1824–1851. Published by the Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1964.

8. Based on Author and Title Catalogue, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

9. Waitzkin, , op. cit., pp. 11–13.Google Scholar

10. Butler, , op. cit., p. 54.Google Scholar

11. Stager, Old, op. cit., pp. 80–83.Google Scholar

12. Waitzkin, , op, cit., p. 23.Google Scholar

13. The Athenaeum, Dec. 22, 1838, p. 916. (Also, see Figure 1.)