1781

= The Royal Gazette: Delayed News and the American Revolutionary War  =

The year 1781 was yet another that was gripped by the American Revolutionary War. //The Royal Gazette// newspaper, published weekly in Kingston, Jamaica, a held colony under the British Empire was no short in printing news on the war. Nearly every page of the publication had some sort of reference to the ongoing battles. However the Kingston presence was noticeably vague in terms of which side they were rooting for, so to speak. With each issue came a titled section "History of the American War" followed by recaps of military events such as battles and movements of soldiers and generals, and in some instances actual letters. It is in these columns that Kingston's neutrality is emphasized, either the writers for //The Royal Gazette// were really well at writing without a bias or there was an overall understanding of the war being alright if it went either way.

Another obvious, and mostly reasonable observation given the year and the way communication worked, the "History of the American War" sections were considerably outdated, given the history part of the title a literal meaning in our current use of the term. For example, an issue published in March of 1781 would talk about events that happened in the war in November of the previous year. Though the mode of transporting information in the late eighteenth century may be a big reason to explain for the delay, the isolation of Kingston from immediate British or American actions trickles down to even the theater stage. In relation to the London theaters such as Lincoln's Inn Fields or the Theatre Royal Drury lane that presented a play every night, Kingston instead, as far as can be seen from //The Royal Gazette// whose office was in charge of selling the tickets, only staged plays on Saturdays.

In addition to this, plays were not staged every Saturday, at times the Kingston community could go weeks to months without a new play being presented. The paper presents two reasons for this lack of theater entertainment, even though a section in the paper's supplement is dedicated specifically to theater life. The first is every play is staged by the same actors, the same production crew: The American Company, whose name recalls the ambiguity that Kingston had in the war. The second reason is because plays are hard pressed to be brought to the island. The paper notes that every play presented has "never been presented [there] before" (//Royal Gazette//, issue 120). After long delays in the theater, The American Company usually resorts to putting on Shakespeare plays.

Notably, there is one exception to this time delay that plagues the Kingston paper and theater life. Starting with issue 135, mid November, until the end of the year the paper consistently reported the staging of the play //The Belle's Stratagem// by Hannah Cowley. The exact date that this play was first produced is a mystery, even though the play has been established as Cowley's greatest work. Some sources state it was early 1780, others say 1781. However, a London print of the play has been found with the date 1781 written on the cover. If this is true then the paper's instance that it is a "new comedy" (//Royal Gazette,// issue 135) is true, it is the first play written and performed in London and in Kingston in the same year, 1781.

= The London Stage: An Ordinary Year  = Despite the events taking up the lives of most under the British Empire and the American colonies, //The London Stage// reports a theater life completely devoid of such military affairs. The season is summarized as it "proceeded to its close in a routine fashion" (//The London Stage//, 451). The only real developments of the year are an instance of "dancing [continuing] to constitute a large part of the evening's entertainments" (//The London Stage//, 361) and an odd presentation of //Beggar's Opera// where "At least half the male parts in this piece were being played by women and half the female parts by men" (//The London Stage//, 361).

What is also missing from //The London Stage// is the fact that the Theater Royal Drury Lane was taken over by a new manager, Richard Sheridan (Billington, "The Belle's Stratagem"). This is an important fact when considering Cowley's play //The Belle's Stratagem//, because it was due to Sheridan that Drury Lane stopped presenting the play, most likely due to its outspoken female characters (Billington, "The Belle's Stratagem"). //The London Stage// does show, somewhat oddly, that a play whose title and themes were alluded to in Cowley's work, //The Beaux Stratagem// ("The Belle's Stratagem") was put on at least once during the year (//The London Stage//, 363).

= Hannah Cowley's The Belle's Stratagem  =

Hannah Cowley's play is notable for its Restoration period appearance and its conclusion that remarkably turns the Restoration characters around. The play revolves around a complex interweaving of characters that at first glance remind those of early Restoration plays such as William Wycherley's //The Country Wife.// In Cowley's work there is a Sir George Touchwood, who like Wycherley's Mr. Pinchwife, is paranoid and overprotective of his newly acquired country born wife Lady Frances, reminiscent of the relationship between Pinchwife and Margery. Trying to steal Frances away from George is the rake Courtall, otherwise known as Wycherley's Horner.

This story, though, is not center stage as the main events occur between George's friend Doricourt and Letitia to whom Doricourt is pledged. Both plots have their climax in the final act's masquerade ball where the moral of the play is presented, for the men to treat women better. For instance, the Doricourt/Letitia situation revolves around her loving him but him not loving her. Letitia says early on "Come to my arms my gentle Doricourt - oh what hours of Elysium shall we enjoy, locked in love's sweet embraces" (Cowley, Act II.iv). However a few scenes later Doricourt says to his friend "I shall first range the boundless ocean of the sex, circumnavigate love's globe - then, like my father and you, perhaps be laid up at last in the cold harbor of matrimony" (Cowley, Act II.vii).

The problem of the play is that Doricourt sees his marriage with Letitia as loveless, and so Letitia's plot is to make him fall in love with her. During the masquerade ball, under disguise, Letitia makes Doricourt fall in love with her, though he does not find out it is her as she escapes. Later, Letitia's father fakes an illness to bring Doricourt to their house where Letitia reveals it was her he fell in love with and the play ends with him saying "let us then steal to yon sweet am'rous grove, and melt supinely on the bed of love" (Cowley, Act V.vii). Meanwhile the other plot of the story involves Courtall failing to steal Frances from her husband as Doricourt's friend Saville has replaced her with a prostitute in the same disguise. When Courtall finds out he is deeply ashamed of himself.

Cowley's play, though too not truly representing the more pressing events of the time, interestingly enough speaks out against both sides of the war opponents in an interesting way, demanding that men respect women. In the main plot, a man cannot simply marry a woman unless there is true love involved. In the second plot, she reverses what Restoration plays got away with, such as Wycherley's which she almost had to have read when creating the triangle between George, Frances, and Courtall, when she embarrasses the rake as opposed to letting him sleep with whomever. It is also interesting that though it was initially short lived in London, as seen in //The Royal Gazette// it had a strong following outside of the British homeland. In modern times, the play has been put to the stage again, such as a Southwark Playhouse production by Jessica Swale just last year (Billington, "The Belle's Stratagem").

Compiled by Steven Rogers

Works Cited: "The Belle's Stratagem." //WhatsOnStage.com.// WhatsOnStage. 12 Sep. 2011. Web. 10 Aug. 2012. Billington, Michael. "The Belle's Stratagem." //The Guardian.// Guardian News and Media ltd. 11 Sep. 2011. Web. 10 Aug. 2012. Cowley, Hannah. //The Belle's Stratagem: A Comedy. As it is Acted by His Majesty's Servants, with Universal Applause.// London, 1781. //Eighteenth Century Collections Online.// Web. 10 Aug. 2012. Douglass, David. //The Royal Gazette//. 1781, 89-141. //17th and 18th Century Burney Collections Newspapers.// Web. 21 Jul. 2012. //The London Stage, 1660-1800: A Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces, Together With Casts, Box-receipts and Contemporary Comment: Part 5, 1776-1800.// 1st ed. Ed. Charles Beecher Hogan, et al. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1960. Print.