When Charles II arrived back in London on May 30 1660, one of the first things he did was to issue royal patents creating the King's Company and the Duke's Company, which were forced at first to operate in converted indoor tennis courts--rectangular indoor buildings in contrast to the open air circular theatres of Shakespeare's time.
The site of the present Theatre Royal in Drury Lane is that of the original one which was a long narrow building (58' x 112') with a capacity of around 700. One of the biggest innovations from the last age was moveable scenery, and many playwrights and critics argued that this hastened the degeneration of the drama since plays relied increasingly on spectacle and effect rather than the imagination of the audience, as in Shakespeare's time.
As William Wycherley's The Country Wife demonstrates, the playhouse was the social and cultural meeting place of the town: people came for gossip and to make liaisons in Charles II's libertine London. There was also a real geography of the theatre as far as audience seating was concerned: prostitutes and servants hung out in the upper galleries (note that Pinchwife puts his wife there in the hopes she won't be noticed); aristocrats and upper classes sat in the boxes (Sparkish deposits Alithea there before going to join the young witty monied men in the "wit's row" in the pit); the "cits" or mercantile classes sat in the middle galleries.
Another major innovation that The Country Wife capitalizes upon is Charles II's decree that women would not only be permitted but would be useful in women's roles on stage. This created a heightened sexuality both to the plays and to the theatre of the late seventeenth century.
Things became tamer as the eighteenth century progressed and actresses acquired greater respectability, but the theatre and this area remained the social and cultural focal point of the town.
As we approach Drury Lane theatre (now about the 4th theatre on the site--they grew larger as the 18th century went on) on Bridges St, we will see Nell of Old Drury Pub on Catherine St. In here there are some theatrical prints and information about Drury Lane theatre. Of course there are ghost stories circulating about the area, involving figures like Charles II, the actor Charles Kean, comedian Dan Leno, and others.
Nell Gwyn, who started out as an orange girl in the Drury Lane theatre, became an actress and caught the eye of Charles II in one of John Dryden's plays. She quickly became his mistress and then would return with him to the public theatre, transported in her station. She insisted that the king give their children titles. She is an example of the nobility across class lines that was possible--and visible--during this period.
Drury Lane theatre escaped the great Fire of London of 1666 but burned down anyway in 1672: the model depicted here which highlights the moveable scenery (the "flats") is the one rebuilt by Christopher Wren which opened in 1674. The building held around 2000 people and better enabled Thomas Killigrew, the manager, to compete with William Davenant, whose theatre in Dorset Garden was better equipped for the new age and more elegant.
In 1747, David Garrick became manager of Drury Lane. Garrick had the greatest impact on the theatre of this first truly modern era. He was a playwright, actor, and manager. He also worked to give Shakespeare his "bard" status. After Garrick retired, Richard Brinsley Sheridan took over in 1776--ensuring the success of his new and popular play, The School for Scandal.
John Philip Kemble took over in 1788 but the theatre had begun to decline. It was razed in 1791 and the 3rd Drury Lane theatre was huge with 3611 seats, designed by Sir Henry Holland and with Sheridan back in manager's position in 1794 when it was complete.
That one burned to the ground in 1809 and the 4th opened in 1812, remaining the oldest operating theatre in London. Charles Macready took over as manager in 1841.
For Charles Dickens fans, here is some more fun material, not written by me:
Charles Dickens and Covent Garden:
When he arrived in London at the age of ten, the first place that the
young Charles Dickens wanted to visit was Covent Garden. This voracious young
reader had come across vivid stories in his books and wanted to see with his
own eyes, whether what he had read in black and white could really be true.
This fateful day in 1822 sowed the seeds in a fertile imagination that
would flourish over the next 50 years into the most famous and popular London
literature of the Victorian age.
Much as Samuel Pepys had documented London society in the 17th
Century, Dickens’ witty and bittersweet output gives the modern reader a window
into the people of Covent Garden and its surrounding areas throughout the 19th.
Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812 to John and Elizabeth
Dickens, the family’s peripatetic early years gained some stability when John
was summoned to take a position with the Navy Pay Office at Somerset House. On
seeing London, Charles was awestruck by the richness and splendour but equally
horrified at the fœtid reaches of society that he encountered. Although the
family was perfectly respectable, circumstances soon meant that Charles himself
became a member of the masses: his father was incarcerated for debt and, as was
the norm, Charles (still only 12) was sent out to find a job of work. This work
came in the form of sticking labels onto pots of boot polish in a factory where
Charing Cross Station now stands. It was tedious, monotonous and unedifying
but, this was real life and Charles had little choice. Those who are familiar
with ‘David Copperfield’ will immediately recognise semiautobiographical
undertones throughout the storyline, indeed Dickens himself acknowledges this
in the preface of early editions: “Like many proud parents, I have in my heart
of hearts a favourite child, and his name is…”
As he grew from a boy to a man, Charles Dickens’ career progressed in
Covent Garden, until he was able to establish his own weekly journals which
were published from Wellington Street. He also lived at a number of addresses
in Covent Garden and further afield. Dickens found great comfort in walking the
streets, observing all the specimens of humanity as he did so. Sometimes he’d
cover up to 20 miles and would often take these long invigorating walks at the
dead of night. It is no surprise then that he knew the streets of London so
well. In each of his books, the characters occupy any number of named and
unnamed Covent Garden locations: much of the dialogue in ‘The Pickwick Papers’
and ‘Great Expectations’ occurs in the Piazza, other examples include Mortimer
Knag’s stationers on Tottenham Court Road (‘Nicholas Nickleby’), Dick
Swiveler’s lodging above the Drury Lane tobacconist (‘Old Curiosity Shop’), Mr
Venus the taxidermist on [now] Monmouth Street (‘Our Mutual Friend’) and the
legal proceedings of Jarndyce and Jarndyce (Bleak House) at Lincoln’s Inn
Fields. Indeed the only Dickens book without a verifiable Covent Garden
location is ‘A Christmas Carol’.
During the years that Dickens lived and worked here, London was
experiencing a massive population surge. In 1800, circa 1 million people lived
in the capital; by 1880 that number was 4.4 million. Victorian society was
notorious for the chasm between rich and poor and Dickens managed to straddle
the two, he was a very wealthy man when he died, but early episodes at the
polish factory and suchlike influenced his fondness for rapscallions and
urchins, most famously ‘Oliver Twist’. While Dickens may be guilty of whimsy,
he didn’t allow sentimentalism to overshadow what he witnessed. In one
description of Seven Dials from his journal ‘Household Words’ in 1851, he
described the Irish workers living in one tenement: “Ten, twenty, thirty – who
can count them! Men, women children… heaped upon the floor like maggots on
cheese… Infected, vermin-haunted heaps of rags”. His later works would tone
this down a notch but he remained acutely aware of the struggles that faced
everyday folk.
Many of Dickens’ locations have since been lost to property developers
but a few candidates remain as they were in his day. There is some argument
amongst scholars as to whether the retrospectively-named Old Curiosity Shop at
13 Portsmouth Street is in fact the same place that Dickens wrote about, but
the building itself is certainly one that Dickens would have known since the
streetscape here has not changed since 1830.
Perhaps the finest accolade, and one which Dickens himself would
chuckle at, is that one street of Covent Garden is now named after him,
indirectly though. There is no “Dickens Street” however, the unassuming Manette
Street abutting Foyles bookshop is named after his character from ‘A Tale of
Two Cities’. In Victorian times it was called Rose Street and this is where
Dickens chose as the fictional home of Dr Alexandre Manette. “The Doctor
occupied two floors of a large stiff house, where several callings purported to
be pursued by day… gold to be beaten by some mysterious giant who had a golden
arm starting out of the wall of the front hall--as if he had beaten himself
precious.”
If you visit Manette Street today, you will see a humorous, subtle
memorial to Dickens just as he described. There is no plaque or explanation for
this incongruous golden arm, and people stroll by oblivious, but if the ghost
of Charles Dickens were to come by during one of his long night-time walks, he would
surely be amused too.
Dickens Today
If reading about Charles Dicken’s history in Covent Garden has
re-kindled your interest in the great man, the Charles Dickens Museum in
Bloomsbury is definitely worth a visit.
Step back in time and walk in the footsteps of Charles Dickens, see
where he wrote, where he dined, and where he and his wife Catherine entertained
their many guests. In short, you can immerse yourself in the sights and sounds
of his family home.
‘My house in town’, as Dickens referred to 48 Doughty Street, was an
important place in the writer’s life: within these walls his eldest two
daughters were born, his sister-in-law Mary died aged 17 and some of his
best-loved novels were written, including Oliver Twist. It was in this house
that he achieved lasting celebrity and universal recognition as one of the
world’s greatest storytellers.
This is the only remaining house of Charles Dickens in London and the
one in which he began married life, became established as a writer, and rose
rapidly to international fame. The Museum houses the world’s finest and most
comprehensive collection of material relating to Charles Dickens with over
100,000 items including furniture, personal effects, paintings, prints,
photographs, letters, manuscripts, and rare editions. A rolling programme of
special exhibitions enhances and complements the Museum’s permanent displays.
Charles Dicken’s decided to cure himself of insomnia by walking
through London in the small hours, he wrote his experiences of this time in
collection of essays entitled Night Walks.
If you would like to read this book or indeed any other Dickens novel
we recommend you wander up Charing Cross Road to Foyles: London’s bookseller
since 1903. Enjoy re-discovering some of the wonderful characters that he
created in his many novels from Nicholas Nickleby to Oliver Twist.
No comments:
Post a Comment