THE GRAND THEATRE AND OPERA HOUSE, LEEDS, UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF WILSON HENRY BARRETT, 1876 TO 1895 by Michael ~mmet Submitted for the degree of Ph.D. School of English University of Leeds 1975 ii ABSTRACT This thesis out1ines the circumstances under which the Grand Theatre, Leeds, came into being - the background, the formation of the founding company, the raising of money, the p1anning and erection of the bui1ding - and then, after a description of the theatre, its equipping and furnishing, goes on to ana1yse and describe the seasona1 programme for the seventeen years of Wi1son Barrett's 1esseeship. After the Introduction, therefore, each chapter is devoted to a sing1e year, and proceeds from a discussion of the main concerns of finance and genera1 management for that year to dea1 with the programme, attempting to show its nature by reference to press reviews, and, where appropriate, accounts, as we11 as by giving some indication of the origin and sty1e of production of pieces. Where possib1e, the composition of companies is shown in the Notes, and more detai1ed information about shareho1ders, the cost of the bui1ding, the capacity and financia1 potentia1 of the house, the profitabi1ity of the operation of the theatre, Wi1son Barrett's audiences, and the make up of the stock of scenery is given in the Appendices. iii CONTENTS Note on Style iv Introduction v Chapter I 1 Chapter II 25 Chapter III 55 Chapter IV 127 Chapter V 205 Chapter VI 266 Chapter VII 316 Chapter VIII 352 Chapter IX 389 Chapter X 427 Chapter XI 483 Chapter XII 539 Chapter XIII 581 Chapter XIV 620 Chapter XV 657 Chapter XVI 691 Chapter X"iII 728 Chapter XVIII 762 Chapter XIX 800 Appendix A 810 Appendix B 814 Appendix C 816 Appendix D 820 Appendix E 821 Appendix F 822 iv Note on Style I have endeavoured to follow the precepts of the Modern Humanities Research Association in matters of style (as given in its 'Style Book' (1971) ). Notes are bound at the end of each chapter. Where a number of references have clearly been made to the same article, I have identified it only once. Where possible I have given the full names of actors, and in these cases I have omitted Mr, Mrs, Miss. Frequently, however, I have found only their initials, and so have included the style. I have adhered to the spelling of my sources, preferring in some cases to follow inconsistencies rather than risk omitting individuals through over-systematising their names. v INTRODUCTION At a quarter to one in the early morning of Tuesday, 2 March 1876 the night watchman stepped out of the Amphitheatre, Leeds, on his way to the adjoining music hall. Both buildings belonged to Joseph Hobson who, nervous of the danger of fire since the Theatre Royal, Leeds, had been gutted nine months previously, had installed clocks in various parts of his theatres and employed a watchman to patrol them, rewinding the clocks as he went. As he stepped out into the narrow lane that fronted the theatres the watchman noticed flames coming from the carpenter's shop of the Amphitheatre. He ran back into the theatre and dragged the stage hose into the workshop, trying to attack the seat of the fire, but the smoke drove him back. The Amphitheatre and the Princess's Concert Hall had grown up by a process of alteration and enlargement from a large wooden building on the traditional site of itinerant circuses. They had developed into an untidy bloCk that occupied the corner of King Charles' Croft and Lands Lane, and were surrounded by narrow streets densely packed by shops and dwellings. In a short while the roof of the carpenter's shop collapsed, and flames leapt up into the sky, showering sparks onto the neighbouring buildings and illuminating vi the city's centre. Alarm and excitement spread, and the fire brigades of the insurance companies and the Corporation quickly had a dozen hoses playing on the fire, while a strong contingent of police held back the crowd. The fire brigades, however, could only wage a battle of containment. They saved the part of the block that was the Princess's Concert Hall and prevented the fire spreading to the Leeds Church Institute on the south side of the Amphitheatre, but the theatre itself was entirely gutted within an hour. Joseph Hobson had insured the Amphitheatre for five thousand pounds. The estimated cost of the damage was in the region of thirty thousand pounds.1 The cost of damage to the Theatre Royal had been put at about the same,2 and it, too, had been underinsured. John Coleman, the owner of the Theatre Royal, had just enough insurance to pay the mortgagees, and having almost entirely reconstructed the theatre in 1867, he was not able to bear the expense of rebuilding again. Hobson had been intending to remodel the Amphitheatre after the style of the Prince's Theatre in Manchester, and then to give up its management. Thus Leeds lost both of its theatres within nine months1 and it might have seemed that the loss would be enduring. The Amphitheatre, however, had been leased since September 1874 to a relatively young actor-manager, vii Wilson Henry Barrett. He, with his wife, Caroline Heath, had enjoyed the respect and enthusiasm of the Leeds audience whenever they had come to the city on tour. Newspaper reviews of their performances often referred to this. The Yorkshire Post of Wednesday, 4 March 1874 might be typical: 'The Amphitheatre - Mr Wilson Barrett's carefully selected company is now so well known in Leeds, and Miss Heath is so popular a favourite, that their return is invariably looked forward to with interest, and they are always certain of a cordial welcome'. Wilson Barrett was no doubt aware of the esteem in which he, his wife, and his company were held, and when the opportunity of taking a lease of the Amphitheatre arose, he became its manager. In this he met with immediate success. For the reviewer of the Yorkshire Post at least, Wilson Barrett seemed to bring with him a breath of London sophistication and style. His acting was basically melodramatic, but infused with a quiet intenseness that the reviewer identified with the contemporary trend, and his mounting of pieces seemed immaculately researched, elaborate, expensive, tasteful, and new. He opened his management of the Amphitheatre with a performance of an established Adelphi Theatre drama, 'The Prayer in the storm'. The reviewer noted3 that the theatre had been cleaned and repainted, and a new cloak-room built. The audience was large and enthusiastic. viii Wilson Barrett announced the following weeks' programme which was to include Barry Sullivan, Mrs John Wood ('a lady who had achieved popularity on both sides of the Atlantic'), and the Carl Rosa Opera Company. The reviewer then went on to stress the difficulty that the staging of this piece would normally present to the provincial manager, implying that it would only adequately be done in London, for it required that people should be incarcerated on an ice floe which steadily disintegrated, the pieces sinking until only one was left, which bore a child. Wilson Barrett's new broom, however, had swept marvels familiar to the metropolitan audience onto the Leeds stage, and to this the reviewer and the audience responded with acclamation. Wilson Barrett was also prepared to tryout new pieces at the Amphitheatre. In March 1874 he had brought the first production outside London of W.S. Gilbert's 'Charity' to Leeds. It drew praise from the reviewer, 4 who forecast that it would be a success. In March 1875 he tried out an entirely new play, W.G. Wills's 'Jane Shore', which was to provide an enduringly successful role for Caroline Heath for the remaining decade of her life. The reviewer called this first night 'a literary event of great importance',5 and pointed out that such an event would have seemed impossible at the Leeds Amphitheatre only a year or two before - that is, prior to Wilson Barrett's management. Without going into too ix much detail he enthused over the play's literary merits, the performances of the actors - especially that of Caroline Heath - and the mounting of the piece. Wilson Barrett, he said, in the small part of Henry Shore played with 'intense fervour', giving a 'natural and most impressive performance' as he 'threw artistic intention into eve~ line of the dialogue and every look and movement'. He cavilled at the division of the last act by a scene change, but conceded it necessary in view of the splendour of the two scenes that comprised the act. He also found that the 'painfully modern' decoration of one scene jarred with the generally laudable 'tone' of all of the rest, which on the whole he thought were comparable with what Irving might have done for the play at the Lyceum. Here we can identify elements that characterise Wilson Barrett's management of the Amphitheatre: the bringing of new plays, or at least fresh London successes; staging them in an elaborate and costly way; and the quality of the acting of himself, his wife, and his company. It was the combination of these elements that made him a fresh and popular force in Leeds, and he was undoubtedly aware of his success. Coleman's takings for his 1874/5 pantomime - his eleventh at the Theatre Royal, but his first in opposition to Wilson Barrett's at the Amphitheatre - were down by a thousand pounds. x Wilson Barrett was enjoying a popular and successful season at the Amphitheatre, when the curtain came down at the end of the performance of 'The Two Orphans' at the Theatre Royal on 28 May 1875.