1755+(II)

=The Year in Review= Great Britain in the year 1755 was under the rule of monarch George II. With him as Prime Minister was Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Thomas Pelham-Holles. The Restoration period was well behind England, politically speaking.

Tensions between England and France were becoming more and more severe; national animosity reigned as the Seven Years' War heated up. British forces fighting in North America antagonized France further with the stealing of their ships and compromising French positions from 1754 to 1756, making 1755 something of a peak of nationalized anti-France sentiments.

Not only was English patriotism a tool used against foreign foes, it caused disputes within the nation, as well. Class struggles bubbled as aristocratic sects clashed with what was considered 'the lower order.'

=The Theatre Season= The 1755 theatre season was anything but dull. Londoners saw 441 performances during the 1755 - 1756 season. Out of these, 187 were performed at Drury Lane, including new mainpieces, //Athelstan// by John Brown, and //Love and Duty// by John Slade, and new afterpieces, including //The Apprentice// and //The Englishman Returned From Paris// by Arthur Murphy; two unknown-author plays, //Mock Orators// and //Harlequin Mountebank//, and, most notably, //The Chinese Festival// by John-Georges Noverre. In an unprecedented attempt, Drury Lane put on performances entirely by child actors. 175 of the 441 London performances were seen at the Covent Gardens theatre. It was not, however, the action within the shows themselves that caused a stir. Drury Lane theatre in November of 1755 was home to infamous rioting that caused the destruction of the theatre’s interior.

The Destruction of Drury Lane
David Garrick, actor and theatre manager of Drury Lane, wanted to wow audiences with a production of The Chinese Festival by Jean-Georges Before The Chinese Festival was premiered on the London stage, David Garrick was already being hit with the uproar of xenophobic animosity of local audiences. Having caught wind of Garrick’s French-filled production, audiences of Jane Shore in which Garrick was acting interrupted. Excerpts from the diary of Richard Cross, Drury Lane's prompter, is the source of the accounts for the performances.Noverre. It had little in way of a concrete plot, but was a ballet spectacular, marked by ‘danced pictures’ representative of the exoticism of Chinese Rococo designs. The 1754 Paris production of the ballet was a great success at the Opera Comique, drawing massive crowds to admire the large, ornately decor’d production. However, Garrick could not have picked a worse time to bring the ballet to the London stage. At the time, tensions between Britain and France were reaching a peak. The threat of war loomed. English citizens were contemptuous against the French. In the time between Garrick’s initial organization of The Chinese Festival and the realization of the production, hostility rose to a denouement. Not only was it an originally French ballet, Jean-Georges Noverre (the ballet master), in an effort to impress audiences, hired the elite of European dancers — the majority of whom were French. Audiences, upon witnessing the collection of foreigners, were outraged. Not even the richly decorated sets, elaborate costumes, and awe-inspiring dancing could quell the crowds. The productions of The Chinese Festival were met with increasingly chaotic reception. It grew to riots. Across the individual productions, Cross' comments on the performances tell the story of reception. > //A great deal of Hissing—but the Boxes being on our Side some swords were drawn, & several turn’d out of the Pit & Galleries. The Officers of the Army are very busy in this Affair, on Account of their hissing when ye King was there—saying it was an Affront—the King did turn his back to the Audience.// > //[Appears to be an eyewitness, journalistic account, but turns into a considered attack upon mob patriotism. Author purports to describe the action which took place Wednesday night 12 Nov. 1755: "When the Chinese scene was expos'd, the leader of the Loyal party advanced to the front of the Gallery and thus bespake the House: 'O Britons! O my Countrymen! Ye will certainly not suffer these foreign clogs to amuse us. Our destruction is at hand. These sixty dancers are come over with a design to undermine our constitution. This Navarre is Marshall Lewendahl, and the least amongst them is an ensign, disguised in order to perpetrate our ruin!"' After alternate encouragement and abuse Reason, who had descended from the clouds, spoke: "I came hither by the persuasion of Truth and Justice to tell you that amongst all this number of dancers that now stand ready to entertain you there are no more than Four French men and a// > //More noise against the Dancers, wch so enrag’d My Ld that with a Number of Gents: he went into the upper Galleries & took out a very noisy person—who proved to be Cap: Venor’s Brother; he resisted & was not brought behind the scenes without much Difficulty, sadly beat, yet still obstinate, they went with Garrick & Lady into Mrs Clive’s room, were he behaved very boldly, but all was adjusted without farther Mischief.// > //Some Noise at the Dancers, but not great.// > //A great Noise, the whole House against us—When Garrick appear’d one from the Slips cry’d out Monsieur, & great Numbers Hiss’d—the play went on—wch done, the Mutiny began, amazing noise—no palting, except one Apple; ye pit to ye Boxes cry’d—now draw yr Swords, wch makes us think, the Riot was occasion’d by the Box people being so busy & turning some out of the pit & Gall: before. Some benches were pull’d up, & Mr Lacy gave up the Dance to appease ‘em—being Sat: our friends were at ye Opera, & the common people had leisure to do Mischief.// > //[Lynham in The Chevalier Noverre, quotes from the Journal Étranger of 25 Nov. 1755: “The blackguards…tore up the benches and threw them into the Pit on the opposing party; they broke all the mirrors, the chandeliers, &c., and tried to climb onto the stage to masacre everybody; but, as there is a magnificent organization in this theatre, in three minutes all the decor had been removed, all the traps were ready to come into play to swallow up those who might venture up, all the wings were filled with men armed with sticks, swords, halberds, &c., and behind the scenes the great reservoir was ready to be opened to drown those who might fall on the stage itself.”]// > The ballet was not performed, however: > //This night the Chinese Festival was hotly call’d for by the Boxes, & strongly opposed by a few in the Pit, the Gentlemen came out, & insisted upon its being given out, wch at last Mr Garrick did; but not before it seem’d agreed that it shou’d be done 3 times a week for the Boxes, & other Entertainments the other 3 Days for the Pit, all parties seem’d satisfied—but the Consequence proved otherways.//
 * When Mr. Garrick ended the 3d Act with “Die wth pleasure for my Country’s good”—a person in the Gall: cry’d no French Dancers then—wch seems to say much resentment will be shown when the 24 we have engag’d appear.
 * NOVEMBER 12.
 * //bout the same number of females; that their Chief is a Swiss Protestant, who, had not his merit protected him would have been hiss’d off the stage at Paris, for being a Swiss Protestant. And will you damn him for the same reason? Will you pay less regard to Genius than a French Audience? Here a cat-call and one cried out: 'Swiss! What the devil do we know of Swiss! a Swiss is a foreigner, and all foreigners are Frenchmen; and so damn you all!"']//
 * NOVEMBER 13
 * NOVEMBER 14
 * NOVEMBER 15
 * NOVEMBER 17
 * NOVEMBER 18 //This night the Riot was very Great, the Gen////tlemen came with Sticks, & tho’ the play went on quiet ‘till the last Act, we had there a great Stop, notwithstanding we ended it, & the the rout went on, ye Boxes drove many out of the Pit, & broken heads were plenty on both Sides; the dance began,—was Stop’d—& so again & again—while this was doing number were assembl’d in the Passages of the pit, broke down & were getting into the Cellar, but were repulsed by our Scene men &c.—heavy blows on both sides—Justice Fielding—& Welch came with Constables & a Guard; but without effect, tho’ the Justices stood upon ye Stage—I thought ye proclamation must have been read—after ye battle in the Passages numbers went & broke Garrick’s windows in Southhampton Street,—part of ye Guard went to protect it—Garrick was oblig’d to give up the Dancers—& ye Audience diaperc’d.//

=//The Chinese Festival// by Jean-Georges Noverre= The ballet that shook the Drury Lane theatre had its origins as //Les Fêtes Chinoises// by French dancer and balletmaster Jean-Georges Noverre. Its inception was in 1751 French theaters, but David Garrick, in 1754, entered into an agreement with the creator to bring the well-received spectacular to the British stage. It was put into production in November of 1755. The ill-fated performance resulted in the destruction of the Drury Lane theater's interior in anti-French riots.

As opposed to being a traditional drama, //The Chinese Festival// does not contain a concrete plot. Instead, it follows the theme of narrative ballet, something Noverre was well-versed and interested in producing. Essentially, the show is a ballet involving scores of dancers (approximately 100,) engaging in complex tableaux to express a narrative of the exotic Chinese trade and its travelers and explorers. On stage, the dancers compose living pictures.

Its very existence is an extension of the //Chinoiserie// movement of the 17th and 18th centuries. Europe became enamored with Chinese culture captivated audiences, who were very much interested in having more. Artists, from architects to painters to writers to thespians to musicians launched into a trend of imitating Chinese style. It was born out of the Rococo style of art and was given its own flair of what artists believed to be 'Chinese.' Global trade was becoming increasingly popular and prevalent, with England, one of the biggest hands in global trade, was introduced to cultures from around the world. Europeans in general became drawn to what was thought to be exoticism and appropriated the culture and art for themselves. //The Chinese Festival// no doubt capitalized on this trend.

Though the plot (or lack thereof) is not available today, eyewitness accounts give a look into what //The Chinese Festival// was like.


 * "[There was] a public square decorated for a festival with, in the background, an amphitheatre on which are seated sixteen Chinese [and] thirty-two are seen on the gradins (stepped tiers) going through a pantomime. As the first group descends, sixteen further Chinese, both mandarins and slaves, come out of their habitations [...]. All these form eight rows of dancers who, rising and dipping in succession, imitate fairly well the billows of a stormy sea. All the Chinese, having descended, begin a character march. There are a mandarin, borne in a rich palanquin by six white slaves, whilst two negros draw a chariot on which a young Chinese woman is seated. They are preceded and followed by a host of Chinese playing various musical instruments [...]. This march concluded, the ballet begins and leaves nothing to be desired either in the diversity or in the neatness of the figures. It ends in a contredanse of thirty-two persons whose movements trace a prodigious number of new and perfectly designed attitudes, which form and dissolve with the greatest of ease. At the end [...] the Chinese return to their place on the amphitheatre, which is transformed into a china cabinet. Thirty-two vases, which rise up, conceal [...] the thirty-two Chinese one saw before."

=//The World (Volume 3),// a periodical= The World was a newspaper published in the 18th century in London. A weekly periodical, The World ran from 1753 to 1756 every Thursday. In its first publication, editor Edward Moore describes his intentions for the paper saying: > > //There are only two subjects which, as matters stand at present, I shall absolutely disclaim touching upon; and these are religion and politics. T////he former of them seems to be so universally practised, and the latter so generally understood, that to enforce the one, or to explain the other, would be to offend the whole body of my readers. To say truth, I have serious reasons for avoiding the first of these subjects. A weak advocate may ruin a good cause. And if religion can be defended by no better arguments than some I have lately seen in the public papers and magazines, the wisest way is to say nothing about it. In relation to politics, I shall only observe, that the minister is not yet so thoroughly acquainted with my abilities as to trust me with his secrets. The moment he throws aside his reserve, I shall throw aside mine, and make the public as wise as myself.// > // My readers will, I hope, excuse me, if hereafter they should find me very sparing of mottoes to these essays. I know very well that a little Latin or Greek, to those who understand no language but English, is both satisfactory and entertaining. It gives an air of dignity to a paper, and is a convincing proof that the author is a person of profound learning and erudition. But in the opinion of those who are in the secret of such mottoes, the custom is, as Shakspeare says," more honoured in the breach than the observance"; a motto being generally chosen after the essay is written, and hardly ever having affinity to it through two pages together. But the truth is, I have a stronger reason for declining this custom: it is, that the follies I intend frequently to treat of, and the characters I shall from time to time exhibit to my readers, will be such as the Greeks and Romans were entirely unacquainted with.It may perhaps be expected, before I dismiss this paper, that I should take a little notice of my ingenious brother authors, who are obliging the public with their daily and periodical labours. With all these gentlemen 1 desire to live in peace, friendship, and good neighbourhood; or if any one of them shall think proper to declare war against me unprovoked, I hope he will not insist upon my taking further notice of him, than only to say, as the old Serjeant did to his ensign who was beating him,' I beseech your honour not to hurt yourself". //
 * //"Having thus satisfied the public of my amazing abilities, and having, no doubt, raised its curiosity, to an extraordinary height, I shall descend, all at once, from my doctorial dignity, to address myself to my readers as the author of a weekly paper of amusement, called The World. My design in this paper is to ridicule, with novelty and good-humour, the fashions, follies, vices, and absurdities, of that part of the human species which calls itself "The World", and to trace it through all its business, pleasures, and amusements. But though my subjects will chiefly confine me to the town, I do not mean never to make excursions into the country; on the contrary, when the profits of these lucubrations have enabled me to set up a one-horse chair, I shall take frequent occasions of inviting my reader to a seat in it, and of driving him to scenes of pure air, tranquility, and innocence, from smoke, hurry, and intrigue.//

=Conclusion= In 1755, London found itself as in the midst of social change as ever. Settled into the century, the world was both moving on from the 17th century and looking forward into what was in store for them from the remaining 18th century and even into the 19th.

Theatres in London found themselves in competition. As popularity continued to grow, the many theatres around the city tried to established themselves as the mecca, while having to fight against the rest for audiences, plays themselves, and the companies attached to them.

Global trade and the growing global economy was connecting the world in ways that had never been possible before. Europeans at the head of the trade systems were being influenced by the exotic lands they were visiting and conducting trade with. Namely, Asian cultures of all different kinds were especially appealing to Londoners.

Not all relations were positive, however. England's presence in North America was shafted against French presence there; simultaneously attempts to acquire land there pitted the forces against one another and fighting broke out. War was inevitable. Animosity back home in each country grew, especially strongly nationalist-fueled anti-French British citizens. Not only was the war on in North America, but laymen expressed their dissatisfaction with the French as often as possible - as with the Drury Lane riots.

Animosity was not even saved solely for foreign parties. There was a growing sense of class inequality in England. Varying ranks among the social 'hierarchy' in London especially caused raucous amongst themselves, quarreling often. In fact, the Drury Lane //Chinese Festival// riots were in part between those more aristocratic patrons in the boxes and upper levels and the less wealthy down below.

//The World// was a weekly periodical that took its Thursday publication to compose a several-page-long commentary on the state of the local London city, the countryside beyond it, the nation and the world as a whole. It tackled in prose the issues and human folly of the day, offering opinions and calling to light what the editor had noticed. In several issues, the writer talks about the theatre -- for example, //Man of Mode// is discussed in issue 151.

=References= Moore, Edward, ed. //The World// 3 (Jan. 1753): n. pag. //AMD - Secure Access Management//. Web. "Part 4: 1747-1776; Season of 1755-1756." The London Stage, 1660-1800; a Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces, Together with Casts, Box-receipts and Contemporary Comment. 1st ed. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1960. N. pag. Hathi Trust. Web.