1787

__**Summary of the 1787 Play Season **__  The 1787 London Play Season was one front loaded with major successes, new personalities, and intriguing scandals that, unfortunately, died down as the season continued. Perhaps the most significant event was the opening of a new dramatic venue in London by one John Palmer, a popular actor of extreme notoriety, whose significant parts included Harcout in The Country Girl, Falstaff in both The Merry Wives of Windsor and 1 Henry IV, and an original (and at the time prolific) character known as Joseph Surface. In 1785 Palmer began construction on the Royalty Theater in Welcouse Square. This would be the first new theater in London since the opening of Covent Garden's “Royal Opera House” in 1732. The opening of the Royalty was extremely controversial, as the managers of the other major play houses saw it as a further fracturing of the audience and, thus, a threat to their profits. Representatives from the Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and Haymarket theater took legal issue with the opening, claiming that the Royalty lacked an official patent, making it illegal to produce plays at the venue. At the close of the opening plays on June 20th, John Palmer actually walked out onto the stage and apologized to the audience, saying that he had no legal right to continue. The theater would remain closed until July 3rd, when the Lord Chamberlain awarded the Royalty the right for the Royalty to continue hosting productions provided that these productions did not include spoken parts, such as pantomimes and irregular productions. The legal battle over the Royalty would be mostly played out through a scandalous pamphlet war, where each side tried to blanket London with propaganda in support of their position. The Royalty would continue to remain opened after John Palmer's death in 1798 until 1828 when it burned down.  In terms of dramatic productions, two stark successes in London would make the early part of the season a memorable one. The first major success was an adaptation of a French opéra comique known as Richard Couer de Lion with music composed by the BelgianAndré Grétry and French text written by the dramatist and poet Michel-Jean Sedaine. The play was a major success in Paris during its first run in 1784 and was considered a highpoint in the respective careers of Grétry and Sedaine. The play would be adapted in 1786 by two rival playhouses: the Covent Garden and the Drury Lane. Covent Garden's adaptation, written by Leonard Macnally, had a brief four night run until it was converted to an afterpiece for eight more nights until finally retired. Drury Lane's version, however, had a much better playwright in the form of John Burgoyne. John Burgoyne was a multi-talented individual perhaps best known by Americans for his involvement in the Saratoga Campaign during the United States War for Independence. However, at the close of the 18th century he was best known for his plays The Heiress, The Maid of Oaks, and his adaptation of Richard Couer de Lion. Burgoyne's version was first performed as an afterpiece on October 24th, and would be produced for a staggering 38 more times.  The second major success of the season was another comic opera, though this time completely homegrown by English writers. Inkle and Yarico was an adaptation written by George Colman of an older story first written in Joseph Addison's and Richard Steele's Spectator. Colman's adaptation differs from the original story in a few key points, most notably the ending where Inkle remains true to the chaste Yarico. The opera was quite possibly the greatest success of the late 18th century London stage, performed an unheard of 98 times at the Haymarket where it first debuted and an astounding 168 times across London by the turn of the century. The opera also represented a fair bit of irony: Addison and Steele where originally against the lavish displays of the opera, displays that which Inkle and Yarico both subscribed to and profited from.  A few new faces would debut on the London stage this year, and a significant personage would retire. Michael Kelly and Master John Braham, both singers, would debut this year on April 20th and April 21st respectively. Braham was only 14 when he began his singing career, and would become one of the most popular vocal talents of the era. William “Gentlemen” Smith, a prolific older actor who originated the character of Charles Surface in School for Scandal, would finally retire from the Drury Lane theater on June 9th, marking an end to his career of 34 years.  As the year pressed on, the tumultuous nature of the earlier '86-'87 season would give way to a rather typical '87-'88 season that would not feature much in the way of significant news. New plays tended to be rather unsuccessful, and very few new talents made their debut. In summation, the closing of the year was a lackluster one when compared to it's grand opening.

__**Summary and Analysis of The Devil **__  The Devil was a weekly journal written by Charles Dibdin that began publication in 1786 and continued through 1787. Charles Dibdin was a multi-talented individual who perhaps suffered from an inability to focus on a single area of expertise, resulting in a varied, though not necessarily stellar, repertoire. This penchant is perhaps best represented in The Devil: it is a satirical publication without a clear focus or outright mission. Unlike other, more visionary satirical publications it's positions often seem contradictory, often to the point of vexation. Indeed, rather then attempt a form of objective analysis that other satirical publications attempted (at least on the surface) Dibdin often uses his Devil to lampoon rival productions while completely failing to acknowledge any shortcomings of his own.  A particularly noteworthy section, however, comes in the form of piece titled “Plan for the Construction of Dramatic Performances, Upon Mechanical Principles” that was first published in the third issue of his second volume. This section shows a critique of a recent performance of The Enchanted Castle, a staple afterpiece on the London stage. In this section, Dibdin reveals a rather keen sense of direction for the stage, offering poignant criticisms on the nature of dialogue in the piece, and how the individual performance of this dialogue should be consistent with overall nature of the play. The Enchanted Castle features the Olympian Pantheon as major characters, and Dibdin correctly recognizes that these characters should display affectations in their delivery of dialogue that reflect a certain amount of expected caricature while still respecting their mythic nature. Dibdin points out a contrast between the characters of Leda and Juno, and posits that a proper performance should capitalize on this contrast by depicting Juno as a fiercely intense “tigress” and Leda as a chaste, innocent “lamb”. By contrasting these two characters with one another, Dibdin realizes that they can strengthen the aspects of each character without dipping into cliché. Dibdin goes on to relegate jokes, puns, and other comedic actions to the character of Mercury, who was a well known prankster among the Olympians. Again, this would not only strengthen the production by varying it's actions but also remain true to the source material.  It is unfortunate that this section is one of the few times that Dibdin offers a type of “manual” on dramatic theory in his Devil, as it continues to be far more poignant and relevant compared to the tired nature of the satire found in the rest of the journal. I believe that if Dibdin relegated himself entirely to the framework of acting and dramatic productions, he could have become a major figure in the period known for a very apt sense of dramatic theory. Of course, this is ignoring the very real possibility that his contemporary audience did not desire such arcane discussions and instead simply demanded more dry witticisms.

__**Summary and Analysis of Inkle and Yarico **__  As mentioned earlier, George Colman's Inkle and Yarico would become one of, if not the most successful dramatic production in the late 18th century. In the tradition established by John Gay's Beggar's Opera (which, uncoincidentally, was also a massive success) it is a comedic opera, mixing spoken lines with musical pieces and dancing numbers. However, unlike Beggar's Opera it contains both original and adapted music: along with several original pieces, the opera rewrites certain popular folk ballads with new lyrics that often parody or satirize the intent of the original song. Along with it's popularity in London, the play would have several international performances, including venues in: Dublin, Jamaica, New York, and Calcutta.  Colman adapted the libretto from the tale of the same name included in Joseph Addison's and Richard Steele's Spectator. However, Colman made some very significant changes to the plot, specifically the ending. The original tale ended with the cold-hearted Inkle, ever the profiteering merchant, sold his dedicated Indian lover Yarico into slavery, despite her being pregnant with his child. The original story skewered the burgeoning merchant culture that was growing in London at the time of it's publication in 1711. Addison and Steele where critical of the merchant culture and the excess of vices their trade often dealt in. The tale was originally supposed to be an exposé of sorts, bringing to light the greedy nature that the mercantile lifestyle reinforces. Colman's adaptation, however, highlights an arc for the character of Inkle: though he starts as an unfeeling mathematician who can only view the world in terms of arithmetic, he eventually decides to stay with the faithful, put poor, Yarico instead of his original choice the rich, but unfaithful, Narcissa.  In the first act of the play, Inkle is foraging through an island in the West Indies searching for an avenue of profit. Through a series of misadventures he is separated from the rest of his party and left stranded on the island with his subordinate Trudge. Inkle and Trudge eventually find a cave and decide to hide in it. Upon entering the cave, they discover the beautiful natives Yarico and Wowski, who enchant Inkle and Trudge respectively. Yarico and Wowski, for their part, instantly fall in love with Inkle and Trudge and become absolutely dedicated to the two men. Inkle and Trudge, unable to part with their new Indian mistresses, eventually decide to take them back with them and integrate them into “civilized” society.  In the second act we are introduced to Narcissa, whose parents (and Inkle's parents) have agreed will marry Inkle. Narcissa, for her part, has designs on the Captain Campley, but still desires Inkle's marriage for his money. Trudge and Wowski return to a British port and commence a comedic scene where Trudge educates Wowski about polite society. Inkle, on the other hand, worries about Yarico's integration, though Yarico reassures him. Inkle meets with a planter who tempts Inkle to sell Yarico into slavery. Inkle recognizes there would be great profit in it, but remains uncommitted.  In the third and final act, Inkle realizes his absence has cost his enterprise enormous sums of money. Additionally, Narcissa's father, Sir Christopher Curry, expects a meeting with Inkle. He realizes the only way to recoup his losses and keep in Curry's good esteem is to sell Yarico into slavery and marry Narcissa for her social standing. However, after a tearful reunion with Yarico, Inkle can not bring himself to complete such a despicable act and finally decides to commit himself entirely to Yarico, abandoning his love of money for his new love of Yarico. Trudge's and Wowski's relationship, which depended on Inkle's and Yarico's, also remain safe, and the four embrace and dance. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It is easy to see why the play was so popular during it's production: the dialogue is quite funny, the stages and costuming lavish and pleasing, and the plot is both poignant and uplifting. The interactions between Wowski and Trudge bear particular mention because of how well written their exchanges are: despite Wowski being Trudge's student, she seems far more knowledgeable about human decency and morality then the supposedly educated Trudge. Inkle is also particularly well written, and his progression from unfeeling merchant to the committed husband of Yarico is subtle, believable, and endearing. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Despite these praises, however, a modern reader can not escape the racial quagmire that this production centers around. Most disturbing of all is the immediate and absolute love and devotion Yarico and Wowski feel when first observing the “white purity” of Inkle and Trudge. A cynical reader could point out a racially hierarchical framework that the production engages. Though Colman tries to obviate this by first demonstrating that both Yarico and Wowski are much more moral and righteous then any of the white characters in the play and later showing that love between the two races is possible and can be beautiful, this is frustrated by earlier commentary in the play that place male members of Yarico and Wowski's race firmly in the position of barbarism. In fact, one of the reasons Yarico and Wowski leave with Inkle and Trudge in the first place is to escape the male members of their race, implying their morality is at odds with the rest of their races savagery. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> These racial quandaries are perhaps the reason that, despite period success, the play has not found a modern audience outside of enthusiasts. Compacting these problems is the unfortunate happenstance that the original score of the production is lost to the ages. In the late nineties several new scores where commissioned, but these productions had brief, moderately popular runs.

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conclusion **__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Perhaps the most important realization one must make when examining this period is the development and success of the English comic opera and the growing dominance of musical productions on the London stage. Both major successes of the year where comic operas, and the period seemed to favor adaptations rather then completely original works. This is not to say that traditional dramatic performance where beginning to fade; far from it, as some of the most popular scenes in the comic operas where scenes that featured humorous or uplifting dialogue. However, it seems that the tastes of the London audience profoundly preferred the novelty of the comic opera, anticipating the development of the modern musical centuries later.


 * __Related Links__**
 * __[|Inkle and Yarico on Project Gutenberg]__**


 * __[|Linda Troost on Inkle and Yarico]__**


 * __[|Biography of Charles Dibdin]__**