THE LIMERICK STAGE 1736-1800

an1774[shortly after the end of the Part Iwo near Mallow on his way from Cork and summer playing, two notable suffered a concussion. The injury, events occurred in the Limerick though severe, did not result in death company. On Saturday, 1 Oc- as the Dublin report asserted. With the tober, John O'Keeffe, the popular IOW by William exception of the rollicking O'Keeffe, comedian, married in the lrish Town Heaphy's troupe included no actor of Mary Heaphy, the manager's daughter. Smith Clark repute. Nevertheless it played accep- Ten davs later the wife of a lesser- tably a series of old favourites in the known comedian, Richard Sparks, 'was Continent, as well as all Ireland, upon four main types of current drama: (1) delivered . . . of Two Sons at Silver- this vigorous city of 40,000 people, the comedy of The Provok'd Hus- mines in the County of Tipperary', and to demonstrate its coming-of-age band by Colley Cibber on the 13th; (2) while en route to Dublin. Mrs. Sparks, as an enlightened European the musical farce of Lionel and like numerous married actresses of the metropolis. The Jubilee opened on Clarissa by lsaac Bickerstaffe on the eighteenth century, evidently felt little Tuesday, 12 August, 1777, with the 14th; (3) the tragedy of Hane Shore discomfort or embarrassment in perfor- laying of the cornerstone of the im- by Nicholas Rowe on the 15th; (4) the mance during the last month or two of pressive Exchange in Rutland Street. At comic opera of The Duenna by R.B. pregnancy. She had been filling promi- night the Fancy Ball took place at the Sheridan on the 16th. nent roles as recently as 28 Septem- Assembly House, where the ballroom The stage productions, however, ber, the day of her benefit. No ill effects was 'lighted in the Manner of the could scarcely equal in glamour other seem to have resulted, for on 17 Oc- Rotunda in Dublin', and the supper of the later Jubilee festivities such as tober the Limerick Chronicle repor- room was 'illuminated with Lamps of 'the Venetian Breakfast in the beautiful ted that Mrs. Sparks and the two boys various Colours, imitative of the Pan- and romantic Garden' belonging to Mr. were 'in a fair way of doing well'. theon in London'. Three hundred per- Robert Davis and located along the The second summer after the birth sons attended, all wearing costumes of banks of the Shannon. A river regatta, of the twins Mrs. Sparks and her hus- Limerick material and manufacture to interspersed with band music on the band chose to play at Kilkenny rather evidence the beauty of lrish textiles to water, followed this Thursday morning than at Cork and Limerick. Heaphy ex- the world at large. Though no females breakfast. The festivities extended over perienced no loss by their secession, dressed in native garb, a few patriotic to Monday, 18 August, when the however, because the venerable trage- males impersonated either lrish coun- medieval ceremony of 'riding the dian Thomas Sheridan returned to trymen or hurlers. Most of the partici- franchises' of the city was carried out Ireland for a farewell tour under pants decked themselves out as in gorgeous array. The municipal Heaphy's management. Sheridan had fashionably exotic personages: Greek procession led by the 12th Regiment found his south-of-Ireland visit in 1773 or Roman deities, harlequins, Indian Band, started from King's Island at too rewarding in acclaim and money princesses, Italian princes, and Turkish noon. 'Every one of the corporations (he had 'picked up' f 700, so his Dublin sultans. Because of the pleasant took pains to provide fine cattle (i.e. friend George Faulkner informed David weather the populace crowded the horses), elegant cloaths, furniture, Garrick) to resist a second summer in- streets near the quays to gape at these standards, ensigns, etc.' The pageants vitation. Heaphy's company, with bizarrely attired figures of high society of the fourteen trade guilds began with Sheridan as the star attraction perfor- riding in carriages or sedan chairs and the Smith's display of Venus and a med in Limerick during the first three attended by footmen. Then a develop- child in a phaeton drawn by four weeks of September 1776. Once more ing lrish democratic impulse sc+ed the beautiful pied horses with a mounted the citizenry turned out in large num- onlookers. 'The mob-ility, as usual on Vulcan alongside. The Tobacconists bers to admire Sheridan's art, but the such occasions', stated the contem- brought up the rear of the parade with ageing actor had lost his zest for the porary reporter, 'forced the nobility and a float showing the Black King of limelight. Towards the close of his gentry out of their chaises and sedans, Morocco and Grimalkin the Snuff Grin- Limerick stay he wrote: 'l have been and made them walk from some dis- der. Thus the Limerick Jubilee con- playing to crowded houses; but my tance to the Assembly-House, to the cluded in a truly grand finale which left time has not passed so agreeably as no small diversion of the numerous one of the Week's participants recalling formerly .' crowd'. This ball, the most elaborate in 'such a diversity of splendid objects, The enthusiasm over Sheridan's Limerick's history before 1800, did not that the fancy, in a kind of controversy farewell appearances was as nothing break up until four o'clock on Wednes- with itself, knew not which most to ad- compared with the excitement over the day morning. mire'. Limerick Jubilee in August of the On Wednesday evening the Two years after his direction of the following year. Planned and directed by theatrical programme commenced. very successful Jubilee Thomas Smyth the enterprising mayor, Thomas Heaphy and his company interrupted headed the organization of the Smyth, the Jubilee took the form of a their Cork summer season to travel to Limerick Volunteers, a militant defence week of varied entertainments. The Limerick and perform for the Jubilee. corps which was forming throughout magnificent celebration was intended One of the better comedians, Thomes Ireland to secure her economic as well to focus the attention of Britain and the Wilks, was thrown from his carriage as her political liberties. As colonel of the local contingent Smyth ordered a Lane debutante Anna Maria Phillips. pit seats at 18s. each. These subscrip- command performance at the Limerick For her benefit on Saturday evening, tion figures represented a twenty-five Theatre on Friday, 27 August 1779, 31 August, she undertook a generous per cent, reduction from the ordinary the last night of the season as well as assortment of light musical roles: Laura prices for single performances. The Mrs. O'Keeffe's benefit. The evening's in the prelude of The Chaplkt, Polly in subscription money would be received bill presented two melodramas ap- The Beggar's Opera, and Leonora in on 12 August to the leading theatrical propriate to the insurgent mood of the The Padlock. On this special occasion patron in the county, Sir Vere ,Hunt, times. Pilon's humorous The Liver- the manager increased the size of the grandfather of the poet Aubrgy de pool Prize included a scene picturing a 'band' as well as engaged a pianoforte Vere, and owner of Curragh Cvase, a recent martial exploit on the high seas: accompanist to heighten the 'airs'. The rich and beautiful estate fifteen miles 'The French lndiaman brought in by the century's fad for musical interpolations south-west of Limerick. Sir Vere ap- "Charming Sally" privateer'. In the was again exhibited in connexion with parently did not respond with the other piece, Home's Douglas, Mrs. West Digges's benefit on the following desired encouragement, and Moss pur- O'Keefe made her first appearance as Wednesday, 4 September, when he sued his scheme of a winter theatrical Douglas, the young Scotsman, a free played Macbeth, and Mrs. Melmoth season no further. nature-loving soul. Spirited Mary Lady Macbeth. The bill for this last day The complete dearth of professional Heaphy O'Keeffe was, however, far of the Limerick season stressed the stage entertainment during 1784 from the most notable of her father's rendering of Purcell's Macbeth music provoked the formation of the Limerick players at Limerick in 1779. The well- and the fact that 'in this admired old Theatrical Society. On 17 January known English actor John Henderson Tragedy will be introduced the 1785 this organization of local gen- had joined Heaphy's summer tour as a celebrated incantation of the Witches, tlemen published its intention to per- fresh celebrity and, likewise, Richard assembled over their Caldron in the Pit form for charitable purposes under the Daly, a handsome dashing lrish novice. of Acheron, and all their Magical joint management of Sir Vere Hunt, Daly, who played opposite the char- Spells'. Major Alcock of the 47th Regiment, ming and genteel Mrs. Lyster (nee Bar- During the summer of 1783 and Captain Trevor Lloyd Ashe, a santi) in genteel comedy, was to audiences held up so well in Dublin and skilled instrumentalist, who later ap- become in the next decade the most then in Cork that Daly did not bring his peared at the Fishamble Street notorious personage on the Dublin actors to Limerick until the assizes at Theatre, Dublin, and elsewhere on the stage. In December 1 78 1, after assum- the beginning of October. During lrish stage circuit. The Society leased ing the managership at Smock Alley, Assize Week the local regiment of lrish from Daly the Theatre Royal, but sold Dublin, Daly brought Heaphy's reign as Volunteers under Colonels Burke and no tickets at the door. They had to be the proprietor of the Limerick Theatre Smyth gained publicity and worked off purchased in advance from Mr. Watson to an end by leasing it 'for a term of patriotic energy by taking the guard of the printer. Seats in the boxes and 'lat- years' with the proviso that Heaphy the theatre. On Wednesday, 8 October, tices' (the upper row of boxes on each might take possession for up to six the two Masonic lodges observed a side of the stage) cost 4s.; in the pit, months per year and might use any benefit night for 'Distressed Masons' 3s.; and in the gallery, 2s. The first per- scenery found on the premises. The with a procession starting for the formance on Tuesday, 25 January, new proprietor, in contrast to his playhouse at six o'clock. Three days consisted of two outstanding stage predecessor, welcomed any chance for later a veteran cast in Othello - Clinch favourites: The Poor Soldier and adde'll incwne from rental of the as Othello, Mrs. Sparks as Desdemona, Venice Preserved, to which Mr. theatre. Very shortly he leased the acted on behalf of Mrs. Heaphy. She Thomas Grady of Limerick wrote a new building to Alexander Macartney for six made an urgent appeal for patronage, epilogue delivered by Captain Ashe. On weeks in July and August of 1782 announcing 'with the most sincere the second bill, a week later, Sir Vere while the Daly company from Dublin Sentiments of Gratitude and the most Hunt took the leading part of Octavio in was performing at Cork. Macartney, a tender Sensations of unalterable The Duenna. For the fourth society strolling manager already well known Respect and Esteem' that 'this will be production on Tuesday, 1 March, Mrs. to Kilkenny and Lisburn, presented a the last Season of her performing in Melmoth came down from Dublin to conventional repertory done by a group this City'. As was often the case in play the heroine in Venice Preserved of obscure players. In accordance with pleas of this sort, the prophecy turned and Rosina. Anticipating a crowded the prevailing custom the manager ex- out quite wrong. The lady continued house, the sponsors railed off the rear ploited his Masonic connexions for his her appearances for five more years. of the pit to be sold as box seats and benefit evening on Friday, 26 July. 'He In the summer of 1784, as soon as thus swelled their proceeds. The cur- issued a public request that 'every it became known that Daly and his tain rose at six o'clock, an hour earlier Brother of Town and Neighbourhood Dublin troupe were not going to visit than usual, in order that 'the Ladies be so kind as to attend the Theatre that Limerick at all, William Henry Moss, an might get in time to the Assembly' af- Night'. The members of Lodge No. 13 English actor of considerable ex- ter the theatricals. The Society had were instructed to 'walk in a Proces- perience in London and Dublin, at- planned to end its season of charitable sion from their Lodge Room to the tempted to turn Daly's by-passing of plays with The Revenge and The Theatre, dressed in the lnsigns of their the Munster capital to his own profit. Beggar's Opera and The Poor Order'. The rise of the curtain at 7.30 He drew up in Dublin a proposal 'to es- Soldier on Tuesday, 15 March, for 'the p.m. found them all accommodated tablish a theatre in Limerick upon a Relief of Fellow Creatures in Distress, upon an 'amphitheatre' erected on the regular, respectable, and permanent many of whom are detained in a stage. Macartney sought to make an footing for three months', commencing loathsome Prison for their Fees'. On impression not only upon the Masons about November 1784. A sufficient this lofty humanitarian note Limerick's but also upon the entire community. number of advance subscriptions for exciting innovation of amateur public On 15 August he gave notice through transferable tickets to twelve nights of dramatics closed for the time being. the local newspaper that he and his performance (about one month) would The successful activities of the troupe would be leaving town in a few enable him 'to procure performers Theatrical Society perhaps were days, and he asked that all bills against more suitable to the public taste than responsible for Daly's paying the city them be submitted at once for prompt the customary and casual mode can greater consideration in the summer of payment. possibly induce'. The needed amount 1785. At the end of the Smock Alley No sooner had Daly's tenants depar- of f 54.12s would be raised by thirty season he sent direct to Limerick the ted in mid-August than he appeared subscriptions for box seats at f l.l OS better portion of his company, in- with his company, featuring the Drury 6d each, and by ten subscriptions for cluding two star attractions: the noted impersonator of native lrish roles, Robert Owenson, and the young Co- vent Garden tragedian, Joseph 'l li,~pref;.~jt Thqfdy, being the 9th of February, I 75 8: Holman, who was visiting Ireland for Will bu prckntrd, a 1 I< A G E D Y, called, The the first time. He made his county debut on Tuesday, 16 August, as a ARLsfESSEX. Romeo in. 'love with a forty-year old Il'rirten by NEN R Y B R 0 0 X E, Efq; Juliet, Mrs. Egerton from Drury Lane. His performance drew somewhat The Part of E S S B X to be by restrained approbation from the Limerick Chronicle, which termed his R4r. S H E R I D A N, person 'elegant', his voice 'manly', and his action 'that of a finished Gen- tleman'. southampton by Mr. DEXTER, 1 Ralcigh. Mr. S T 0 R E R. l For the next three years Limerick en- joyed more extended and unusual en- tertainment from Proprietor Daly, no doubt because the city's audiences were keeping pace with its rising pop- ulation, now close to 50,000. Each summer the Dublin players fitted in two visits to the Munster capital between (king her third Appearance in that Charakr) their sojourns at Cork and Waterford, and also introduced an increasing 2% CharoC7er~di$ in the Hahits ofthe Times. variety of guest actors. The 1786 per- formances, which occurred in the first A playbill featuring Thomas Sheridan in the part of Essex. two weeks of August and the last two weeks of September, presented reminding one of Tenier's celebrated north upon the quay and river, and Charles Bannister of Drury Lane and Dutch Fair'. The farmers' wives and would possess an imposing ornamen- John Henry ("Jack") Johnstone of Co- daughters so adorned the surrounding ted facade, in brick and cut stone to vent Garden in their first Limerick ap- slopes that their 'universal costume of match the Assembly House, with two pearance, plus Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers, blue and scarlet cloaks, and white large doors on the ground floor. The and Richard Wilson, all three of whom starched cocked-up caps, in the dis- theatre area was to have entrances were from Covent Garden and on their tance resembled a profusion of sweet wholly unconnected with the house. first lrish tour. These five new faces comfits regularly disposed on a dessert Admittance to the boxes would be constituted a superlative cast for Love cake'. To entice these racegoers at gained through the vestibule and in a Village on the opening night of 3 1 night Daly selected as his initial hallway of the Assembly House, thence July. 19 1787 the curtain was up at the drawing-card seventeen-year-old up the 'Great Stairs' to a landing, and Theatre Royal, Limerick, 16-28 July Maria Hughes, a Tipperary beauty finally through a broad door into the and 13-25 August, with the celebrated whose stage debut three months corridor encircling the first tier of Michael Kelly, 'from Venice' via Drury previously had thrilled Dublin. She was boxes. The pit and the gallery were to Lane, and the charming Mrs. Crouch, soon joined by 'Jack' Johnstone and be approached separately by doors also of Drury Lane, as the chief attrac- Wright Bowden of Covent Garden, and from the back street at the south end of tions. They chose to do Lionel and Mrs. Castelli of Norwich, the latter two the building. The stage and dressing- Clarissa for their premiere before an on their first lrish tour. Daly's troupe rooms would be situated at this end, audience overflowing on account of the stayed on for most of July, and then but the actors' green-room, reached assizes. came up again from Cork just to act from backstage by a side passage, In 1788 Daly opened the theatre during Assize Week in mid-August. would be located in an adjacent card or very early in order to profit from the About this time a 'committee of tea-room of the Assemly House. crowds attending the Limerick races 7- Nobility and Gentry' revived Tottenham " The main stage was to be 32 feet at 12 July. For this year Sir Vere Hunt Heaphy's proposal of 1774 that a new its greatest depth with a forestage or managed the race meeting, much to playhouse be erected in conjunction apron one-third as deep, in front of a the displeasure of the Protestant with the Assembly House on proscenium 34 feet wide by 27 feet Bishop of Limerick, who deplored the Charlotte's Quay. The Smyth family, high. The auditorium, 50 feet by 50 event as 'very injurious to the Lower now represented by John Prendergast feet, and therefore larger by a fifth than Class of People, and Gambling (that Smyth, M.P., renewed its o3er of that in the Cornwallis Street playhouse, most destructive Vice) amongst the ground adjoining the bfsembly House, was designed unlike any other Higher Class'. Despite the Bishop's op- as a site. With this location in view, the eighteenth-century public theatre in position, Race Week had already begun promoters commissioned a London' Ireland or Britain, namely, with a com- to rival Assize Week as a local holiday architect of some eminence, James plete upper as well as lower period, especially for gathering in the Lewis, to draw up in 1788 appropriate horseshoe-shaped tier of boxes. The county people of all classes. The Garter building plans. These, the only ones upper tier, containing thirteen compart- Inn 'at the back of the square opposite known for an eighteenth-century ments, would include in the centre a the Theatre' offered 'good stabling' at theatre in Ireland, called for a larger box for Mr. Smyth with entry 8d. per night and served meals every handsome three-storied structure of solely from the drawing-room of his day during the races at special prices: Palladian style to be connected with house. The lower tier would have two breakfasts 8d., dinners Is., and sup- the Assembly House. It was conceived, fewer boxes to allow for the door on pers, even after the plays, 10d. however, as a structure that, like the each side of the forestage under the Limerick's picturesque racecourse, ly- existing Theatre Royal in Cornwallis upper box nearest the proscenium. ing in a pretty valley, 'exhibited for the Street, would combine under one roof Another unique feature of Lewis's accommodation of spectators a long residential apartments at the front and plans in relation to the box arrange- range of booths, in tent-like style, em- a theatre at the rear. The living quarters ments was the apparent removal of in- bellished with painted signs of'various intended for Mr. Smyth's occupancy trusive columns which traditionally figures, as a boot, a pig; a gridiron, etc., 'during his stay in the city' would look supported the front tiers. This projected Limerick theatre, pence for the other parts of the house. When Sir Vere's company returned though not equal in size or in im- The 'crowded and brilliant' audience at from Waterford to begin a summer pressiveness of entrance to the con- the opening on Friday, 9 October, season of five weeks at the Limerick temporary Theatre Royal at Cork, brought in such a profit that 'it effected Assembly House on Saturday, 31 July, would have surpassed the latter in the the liberty' of two men from the city jail it had to compete against the Crow elegance gnd novelty of its interior. In- where they had been confined a long Street troupe under Daly till their deed, it would have been an edifice time for debt in spite of their numerous departure on 13 August. The Dublin truly befitting the stature of Ireland's dependants. The second bill on Tues- players chose to appear just at!this third city. A major obstacle to its con- day, 17 November, provided an ample time so that they might share in the struction, however, arose. The peculiar evening of entertainment: Venice lucrative business provided by kssize and limited 'form of the ground' Preserved, The Poor Soldier, a Week, 2-7 August. At their Cornwallis donated by the Smyth family com- recitation and a duet. The curtain rose Street theatre they performed for the pelled the architect to design the at seven o'clock but did not go down most part comic operas with a strong backstage area in the shape of a right- until midnight by reason of the en- quartet of vocalists in Bowden, J. Kelly, angled triangle with the rear seat as cores. Though 'the actresses were a lit- Mrs. Mountain, and Miss George. Thus, hypotenuse. The consequent space tle bashful, it being their first ap- during this brief midsummer period, available for the requirements of pearance', they received hearty ap- the Limerick playgoers could enjoy two production did not prove sufficient to plause from a full house that netted competent companies with quite dif- meet professional acceptance. This ad- over twenty guineas for the Limerick fering repertoires - a situation un- verse judgement made clear the un- poor. paralleled in the city's stage history feasibleness of the site, and with that before 1800. revelation the community interest in a Even greater profit was secured by Many interesting details of Sir Vere new playhouse apparently evaporated. railing in the rear of the pit with the Hunt's theatrical enterprise during the Once again the Munster capital, boxes for the acting of Cato and The summer and thefollowing winter season despite its prosperity, showed a lack of Brave Irishman on Monday, 21 at Limerick can be gleaned from the strong desire to establish a worthy December, when the proceeds went to surviving accounts of his treasurer, home for its dramtic entertainment. 'the Relief of Confined Debtors, who John Booker. Receipts ran large from As a dismal aftermath to the failure now Labour under the greatest Disress the opening Saturday night, 31 July, of the theatre venture Daly sent 'the for want of the common Necessaries of through the ensuing Assize Week Dregs' of this Dublin company to Life at this inclement Season'. Two when daily performances were given. Limerick in the summer of 1789. Under weeks later the Fever Hospital benefit- Income for these seven evenings the assistant manager, William Daw- ted from a repitition of the December totalled f 130.7s., with a maximum of son, they seem to have given bad per- programme, the final one of the f 37.1 9s. on Monday, 2 August, and a formances during the August assizes. charitable series. minimum of £4.6~.for the next Satur- The audiences felt insulted and reacted day. During this period the door- with severity toward what one indig- While these young gentlemen keepers unwittingly accepted 13s.6d. nan; observer called 'the remnant of a players were stirring up Limerick's in- of 'bad silver', for which, according to motley group of ragged strollers'. This terest in stage entertainment, Sir Vere custom, they had to be reimbursed by same critic wrote to Dublin a satiric Hunt felt the urge again, after five the proprietor. description of the first evening when 'a years, to engage in the theatrical In addition to the manager, a dozen discordant scraper and a blind fiddler busines,~ but now as a bona-fide men and a half-dozen women com- attempted to grind opera tunes; and a professional enterprise. Realizing the posed the regular acting personnel. gentleman of the bar, Mr. Lysaght, appeal of a fresh and more elegant Manager Clinch, of course, got the called out Deputy Dawson, alias Chief milieu, he turned to the brick and cut- biggest compensation, f 3,13s.6d. a of the Monarch's eunuchs, on the stone Assembly House and transfor- week. The leading men - Richard Hurst, stage, and he was obliged to make the med its ballroom into a 'beautiful' Ezra Wells, and J. Brown who had just amende honorable'. Saturday night, theatre. The magnificent ballroom - 60 come from Crow Street - received 22 August, saw the tension on both feet long, 40 feet wide, and 35 feet £2.2~.for a normal week of three sides of the footlights at its height. Mrs. high - was coved and decorated in nights, but additional and variable O'Reilly, one of the leading ladies, star- Ionic style, and equipped with amounts for extra performances; the ted to play Lucy in The Beggar's handsome glass lustres. Some of the ordinary actors - Adamson, Clare, Kelly, Opera, then 'changed her mind and adjoining small rooms the baronet McCulloch, McCrea, Power - E l.Is, to quitted the house'. The irate audience doubtless fitted up as backstage quar- f l.l l s.6d. per week; and the novices - shouted for her husband, and at ters. Beaumont, Dempsey, Gotley - 10s.6d. O'Reilly's appearance on the stage, weekly. The women's salaries were ap- 'treated him so roughly that he set out Sir Vere procured as his manager preciably lower. The top figure of for Cork that moment'. the veteran Dublin tragedian, Lawrence f l .ll s.6d. was paid to Mrs. Achmet, a Clinch, a strong-minded actor who at well-known Dublin actress recently This unhappy summer produced the moment was enjoying one of his back from Covent Garden. Young strong repercussions among the frequent disagreements with Richard Harriet Westropp Atkins of Cork, in- playgoing enthusiasts of the city and Daly and therefore was not employed genue and comedienne, played for vicinity. A group of young gentlemen, at Crow Street for the current winter. E l.lS. per week; the undistinguished following in the steps of the former Clinch assembled a troupe of experien- Mrs. McCulloch and Mrs. Power, Limerick Theatrical Society, undertook ced strolling actors to open the 'New 10s.6d. The irregular services of a series of performances for charitable Theatre' with As You Like It, on Mesdames Brown, Hurst, Kelly and purposes during the autumn and early Saturday, 30 January 1790. Im- Wells appear to have been winter of 1789-90. They leased the mediate success induced the remunerated by extra payments to Theatre Royal; set up a price scale of aristocratic entrepreneur to expand his their respective husbands. The benefit 3s. for the boxes, 2s. for the pit, IS. for activities by taking over from Daly the nights added a good deal to the stated the gallery; and sold admission tickets proprietorship of the Waterford Theatre salaries, but the returns on these occa- as well as box places in advance. The Royal. Thither he sent his players under sions always proved unpredictable. For Manager Clinch sometime in early summer for a stay that lasted till late July. drew only £5.1 1s. Miss Atkin's next benefit, in January 1791, yielded f 1g&., over twice the amount of her previous intake. Sir Vere Hunt's backstage and house staff numbered between twenty and twenty-five. The scene designer, Samuel (?) Whitmore, an artist of repute, rated with the chief actors in salary at £2.2~.per week. Byrne the assistant scene painter, Hoole the head carpenter, and the two regular musi- cians had a nightly wage of 3s. per night. Bill posters, charwomen, doorkeepers, playhouse guards, stage boys, and other helpers got 1 S, for each performance. The total wages of the New Theatre, Limerick, for the last week of its summer season, a typical week, amounted to approximately £36. Sir Vere Hunt kept productional ex- penses at a minimum. Copy-books of individual parts in plays (for example, King Lear and She Stoops to Con- quer) were procured at a charge of only 6d. Purchases of such petty materials as chains, cord, glass, ink, nails, painter's size, paper, pens, tar, and wine occurred often. A few un- usual items were bought: green baize for the pit seats, 4s.3d.; 'two Chamber Pots for the Dress Rooms', 2s.; an ink- stand, 6d.; a pitcher and basin, 2s.; a prompter's whistle, 6d.; a dozen tin candlesticks, 2s.3d. Hurst, wardrobe and property keeper as well as actor, ma$e occasional outlays: 'stage properties', £2.1 0s. on one date and f l.l S. on another; 'dresses', £ l.l S. once, and, later, f l.l l S. A costume for Touchstone, done by Moore the tailor, cost 7s. The stage carpenter received 3s. for 'turning work' on Juliet's bier. Certainly these were very modest sums for outfitting. Similar economy characterized the illumination of the theatre and the stage. During the summer season it must have been done entirely by oil lamps, because the sole lighting charge was for oil at 9s. a performance. The expense of oil lighting in the winter in- creased by 2s. Since the accounts mention 'toe for the lamps', that is, The flag of the Limerick Volunteers. cord-like cloth or fibre for lamp wicks, it is apparent that Sir Vere Hunt had not installed the London 'patent' Cook, Nautical Manoeuvres, the theatrical reputation, he led his com- lamps, an improved type with cylin- Assassination of Captain Cook, a Grand pany to neighbouring Ennis for four drical wick, which Daly had introduced Tomb Scene, a Procession of Naval weeks. Thereafter the troupe may have to Ireland at the Crow Street Theatre in and Military Honours.' The hire of gone further afield or they may have 1788. Wax tapers lighted the soldiers from the local barracks to act taken a vacation; at any rate they did playhouse interior on rare occasions in in the landing and processional scenes not start acting again in Limerick until the winter season. According to one amounted to somewhat more than f l Monday, 8 November. The personnel entry, it cost 38s.4d. to buy 'Candles per night. Four extra 'Black Men', im- remained much the same except for for 4 nights'. personating South Sea islanders, had the absence of Clinch, who at the time Pantomimes like The Death of to be paid 3s. for each performance; of the Ennis tour had left for Dublin to Captain Cook, given several times in 2s. an evening were spenton 'faggots join Daly's Crow Street organization January 1791, required, according to and toys' used by the 'natives'. Yet once more. Performances until mid- one of the playbills, 'a beautiful display even these additional expenditures for December maintained the normal of Scenes: the Wigwam of the Chiefs a pantomime indicate simple and schedule of Monday, Wednesday, Fri- of 0-Why-ee, a Kaiva or Festival, Grand thrifty staging. day, and business continued good. For Savage Dances, a Marriage Altar Sir ere Hunt brought backed by a Dark Wood, a Nuptial season to an end on 4 - Procession, the Jkrriva~ of Captain Then, still of a mind to f lO7.l4s., compared with f 130.14s. from performing at the Limerick great expense' connected with her for the first seven nights of the summer Theatre Royal during the nextt sum- visit. Over the years the Theatre Royal season. With the onset of more incle- mer. She appeared along with Daly's had grown notorious because it con- ment weather, playing became more Crow Street troupe for Assize Week, tained no decent place of reception intermitten? at the same time that at- 20-25 August 1792. This year the backstage. The prospect of Miss tendance declined. From 10 December playhouse rather than the players Farren's vexation at the absence of so to the end of January the company ac- aroused public condemnation: 'So important a facility moved Daly at last ted only eleven nights and took in at large and so improving a City as this to remedy the situation. He builtl for the door £87.7~. On Monday, 7 her a fine dressing-room that in the should be disgraced by such a Theatre. /' February 179 1, with the benefits com- The Manager ought to pay some atten- future was to be used for the green- pleted, the thirteen weeks of winter tion to the proper accommodation of room. In addition, he paid her the performances at the Assembly House the Inhabitants. The House is not only highest fee ever given to an actress in came to a close. considerably out of repair, but many of eighteenth-century Limerick, namely, Sir Vere Hunt then prepared for the Seats in the Boxes are dirty beyod £50 per night. These outlays in con- another short season that would in- description'. The same critic blamed junction with 'the smallness of the clude the Spring Assize Week, and to the manager also for the 'disorderly theatre' provided Daly with his excuse that end installed as manager, at a and insolent behaviour in the gallery' for raising the cost of seats to the salary of £4.4~.per week, the veteran where the spectators 'resemble current Dublin figures: 5s. for the William Moss of Dublin. Back in 1784, Savages'. If the manager had shown boxes, 3s. for the pit, and 2s. for the Moss had vainly aspired to be a the proper initiative and called on the gallery. At these new prices a full Limerick manager but had never ap- 'magistrates', they would surely have house totalled about f 130. Therefore, peared on the local stage until his assisted in preserving decent manners with the theatre filled throughout arrival in December 1790, after a long throughout the house. Assize Week, the proprietor earned a sojourn in Edinburgh. The new Daly may not have heeded the urg- large profit. manager persuaded Mrs. Castelli and ing of this angry patron to sweep out Miss Farren elected to entertain Mr. Brennan, well-known singing and repair his building, but at least he Limerick with the comic parts in which strollers, to join the company, and thus appeased the complaints of others by she excelled: Beatrice in Much Ado he strengthened its musical repertoire. putting the theatre's subscription list in About Nothing, Estifania in Rule A The new season at the Assembly order for 1793. Since the list had been Wife, Lady Bell in Arthur Murphy's House theatre commenced on 23 'mislaid' at the start of the previous Know Your Own Mind, and Violante February 1791 and continued until 18 season, 'some confusion' had attended in Mrs. Centlivre's The Wonder: A March. During these four weeks Moss the admission of season-ticket holders. Woman Keeps A Secret. To play raised the curtain on nine nights for No longer, however, would ladies and Lissardo opposite Miss Farren's total receipts of about f 72, the same gentlemen be inconvenienced at the Violante, Daly chose at short notice the average per night as in midwinter. door, for the doorkeepers had in hand a youthful comedian Charles Mathews, After a month of inactivity following new and correct list, so the proprietor who had made a promising debut at the- cessation of the Limerick perfor- announced before the first night. The Crow Street in June. This assignment mances Sir Vere sent the company un- Crow Street company came direct from led to a situation that developed as der Moss to play at Cork. In June a dis- Dublin in mid-July to present much comic melodrama as any scene agreement with Moss caused the Limerick's playgoers with their first in the troupe's repertory. Limerick baronet to withdraw from any sight of two gifted actresses, Mrs. Mathews, desirous of perfecting his further theatrical responsibilities. Frances Abington and Miss W. Brett. role of Lissardo, decided to rehearse Faulkner's Dublin Journal on 9 They paired off admirably as Lady during the afternoon in the open air. He August reported that Sir Vere's Teazle and Maria in The School for crossed the bridge over the Shannon playhouses at Limerick and Waterford Scandal for Mrs. Abington's benefit on and was strolling along the river bank were untenanted and his 'troops' were Thursday, 25 July, when the curtain when he met a fellow actor, Seymour, ranging the country. 'Having renounced did not rise until. 7.30 pm., a half-hour also rehearsing. After reading lines to the office of Field Marshall Manager, later than usual because of the high each other for a while, they parted. he has retired within the purlieus of the society attending. Miss Brett in con- Soon Mathews, on account of the sul- (Newtown-Pery) club house'. nexion with her benefit on Monday the try weather, proceeded to strip for With Sir Vere's retirement Richard 29th adopted the unusual procedure of bathing, but 'never had a notion of Daly once again exercised sole control being present at the theatre on that swimming'. Suddenly he got in over his of Limerick's professional stage enter- Monday from ten until three o'clock to head and started to sink in panic. Like a tainment. His Dublin players, however, sell in person tickets as well as box man in a dream, he fell for a brief mo- no longer liked the venerable Theatre places. Her novelty on the evening's ment into conjecturing who could act Royal on Cornwallis Street, and called programme consisted in assuming for Lissardo with Miss Farren that night if it 'too small' when in September 1791 the first time the male role of Young he were drowned. Then he rose, saw they arrived with two guest stars from Hob in the ever-popular ballad opera of Seymour reading a little way off in the London, Charles lncledon and Mrs. Hob in the Well. meadow, cried out feebly, and sank James Billington, who were making Another glamorous actress new to twice. Seymour providentially heard their first Limerick appearance. The dis- Limerick, Miss Elizabeth Farren from him, rushed up, and jumped into the gusted Mrs. Billington, who had been Drury Lane, furnished the main excite- river without undressing. Mathews, hailed 'divine, all-captivating, angelic', ment of the 1794 season, which dragged to shore after a struggle, was now 'mistook the respect due to an opened with Assize Week, 8-1 3 Sep- hurriedly carried in the nude by audience', Incensed by her disdain, the tember. Miss Farren 'was most rap- Seymour and two by-standing soldiers public returned the compliment by turously received by a very elegant to a public house, put on a table, and 'mistaking the night of her benefit'; audience; for, besides numerous peo- rubbed 'in all directions' with whisky. they carefuly refrained from buying any ple of fashion residing near Limerick, Curious onlookers gathered for joking box seats for that day. The celebrated the assizes brought together an im- comment on the reviving corpse: actress in the face of this debacle mense number of people'. Packed 'Sure, he went a swimming, and had hurried from town without any reward. houses greeted her on all five nights of never learnt? The harsh reception accorded Mrs. her week's engagement. To Proprietor 'He had one lesson only, I heard, and Billington failed to deter one of her Daly she proved a lucrative investment that was to teach him how to sink'. rivals, ~adamdbaraof Drury Lane, despite his publicity about the 'very 'By my soul, then he was an apt scholar. What name's upon him?' Limerick Theatre Royal. dian James B. Stewart. For the troupe's 'Sure, I heard the Englisher red-coat The Rebellion of 1798 caused the last performance Huddart and Stewart say he was one of Daly's divarters'. Crow Street organization to delay its employed the arrangement, rare The whisky massage restored the annual visit to Munster's capital until among 'name' players, of 'blending nearly drowned Mathews with such the first of October, when the violence their Nights', that is, combining their surprising speed that by evening he and tension had almost subsided in the benefits. Huddart proceeded to shine went on stage and carried off his part south-west of Ireland. Then the Crow as Othello, and Stewart as a singer of to the complete satisfaction of both Street deputy manager, Thomas comic lyrics, notably one entitled 'In Miss Farren and the audience. Bellamy, took on tour one of the Poaching All Mankind Delight'. , Another memorable episode strongest troupes that had ever set The truly superior groups of aeors enlivened Limerick's summer two years forth from Dublin. Its leading figure that now were yearly visiting Ireland's later. The Crow Street company came was not, as in recent summer tours, an third city deserved there an attractive to the city direct from Dublin in order to actress, a comedian, or a singer, but a and commodious playhouse. Frederick' take advantage of Assize Week. They tragedian of repute, George Frederick Edward Jones, who in 1797 had taken opened on Monday, 18 July 1796, in Cooke from Covent Garden. He made over the Limerick as well as the Dublin the comic operas of Robin Hood and his Limerick debut in the role of and Cork Theatre Royal patents from The Farmer, with the two principals, Shylock on the season's opening night, Richard Daly, pronounced the thirty- Joseph Munden and Miss Poole, mak- Monday, 1 October. A week later year-old structure in Cornwallis Street ing their first Limerick appearance. Manager Bellamy staged his own to be in 'such a decayed and ruinous Since Daly's players were staying for benefit with a calculated outburst of condition that it would be much more only ten days, he rashly promised that loyalty to the English Ascendancy. For advantageous to build a new Theatre he would send at least a portion of his the evening's climax 'a Grand Em- than repair the old'. Therefore, to stir troupe up from Cork to perform during blematic Transparency', representing up agitation for an appropriate modern the Limerick races, 18-20 August. the Viceroy Marquess Cornwallis sup- building, he advertised at intervals dur- When the time came, however, he dis- ported by Justice and Mercy, was ing the winter 1799-1 800 for 'Ground patched five of his instrumentalists and gradually disclosed amid the singing of in a central situation 50 feet in singers to give evening concerts in the 'See the Conquering Hero', 'Rule Brit- Front, by at least 130 feet in Depth', Cornwallis Street theatre with but pit tannia!', and 'God Save The King'. This whereon to erect a new theatre. and box seats available. The substitu- display of allegiance typified the tion of chamber music for plays poltical bias that had dominated the These advertisements, however, irritated fasionable society at the same entrepreneurs of the lrish theatre elicited neither offer of land nor any time that the closing off of the gallery throughout the preceding two critical other material support. For the third vexed the general populace. In retalia- decades. time in the last quarter-century the un- tion citizens and visitors alike boycot- The final summer of the century dertaking to provide Limerick with a ted the concert series. Four persons at- found the Crow Street troupe at more suitable playhouse had been tended the premiere: one unidentified Limerick in time for the assizes, 22-26 called to public attention; for the third man in the pit, and Lord Barrymore July, with an even finer aggregation of time no effective response was with two guests, all three of whom en- talent, including Thomas Huddart of forthcoming. Without any good excuse tered a box late in the programme. This Covent Garden on his first lrish tour, Limerick went forward into the era of fiasco concluded both the concerts and young Miss Gough in her local debut, the Union dependent upon a Daly's reign as proprietor of the Cooke, Fulham, and the popular come- notoriously outdated theatre.

Design of the cross-section of the stage for the proposed Limerick theatre.