1754

=“**The World”**//,// **Adam Fitz-Adam** = “The World” was a weekly journal, available every Thursday. The journal ran for four volumes. The first issue ran January 4 th, 1753, and the final issue (209) ran until December 30th, 1756. As the journal is named “The World”, it is primarily interested in satirizing certain negative parts of society. For example, one of my favorite pieces (February 7th, 1753, issue 58):
 * Written by Adam Fitz-Adam, often published reader commentary.
 * Printed by R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall and sold by M. Cooper at the Globe in Pater-Noster-Row
 * Same printer and seller as //Creusa, Queen of Athens,// which is discussed later in this wiki

“To Mr. Fitz-Adam,

Sir, I hardly know a more unfortunate circumstance which can happen to a young man than that of being too handsome: it is a thousand to one that in the course of his education he loses the very dignity of his sex and nature. During his infancy, his father himself will be too apt to be pleased with the delicacy of his features; his mother will be in raptures with them; and every silly woman who visits in the family, will continually lament that master was not a girl, for 'what a fine creature would he have made!' If he goes to school, he will be perpetually teized by the nick-name of Miss Molly; and, if he has not great resolution, be obliged to become the most mischievous imp of the whole fraternity, merely to avoid the harder imputations of fear and effeminacy.” (Issue 58, 347-8)

The article continues for approximately three more pages on this subject. While often humerous, Fitz-Adam's satire seems to relate to very real issues for the time. For example, the above excerpt, while humorously commenting on the dangers of being too attractive, seems to have the same fears that we learned about in class. For example, one of the character types that we routinely saw within the plays, albeit more heavily in the earlier Restoration years, was the foppish character. These characters are so obsessed with their appearances that they care for very little else, often leading to their own ruin.

So while the character types that we encounter within the plays naturally changed the later in the period we read, Fitz-Adam and his corespondents bring to light that these issues are still very alive, regardless how far into the period readers go.

=**The 1754 Theatre Season** =

To easier understand the 1754 theatre season, it is important to first describe the previous season, briefly. The late 1752 to early 1753 theatre season saw “sixty-eight zany performances of //Mrs. Midnight's Oratory// compensated for the total lack of... opera” (Stone. 317), according to //The London Stage//. Likewise, this season a good deal of controversy “between Henry Woodward and Dr. John Hill. The latter, self-styled Inspector-General of Great Britain, involved himself in the battle between Woodward and Thaddeus Fitzpatrick over an apple thrown at the comedian and the comedian's supposed insolent retort. A spate of pamphlets resulted” (317). This season had a mixture of oddity in the lack of certain genres, as well as a good mixture of off-stage controversy.

This might not seem important, as it was an entire year of theatre prior to the focus year. By contrast however, 1754 was fairly uneventful. Stone, in //The London Stage//, writes, “This season was one of the most 'regular' on record” (375) for the late 1953 to early 1954 season. The season saw a total of 499 performances. David Garrick had received a very prosperous season after assuming management over Drury Lane. “His company numbered 92, including 63 actors and actresses, 24 dancers, and 7 singers. It performed 192 evenings”. In this season, Drury Lane opened three new tragedies “Glover's //Boadicia// (I December); Henry Crisp's //Virginia// (25 February); and William Whitehead's //Creusa Queene of Athens// (20 April). John Rich, opener of Lincoln's Inn Fields and the Theatre Royal, employed 80 performers, and featured two new tragedies, “MacNamara Morgan's //Philoclea// (22 January) and Philip Francis's //Constantine// (23 February)” (376).

The end of the 1754 witnessed a very interesting piece of controversy. “This season witnessed Charles Macklin's withdrawal from the stage to open a tavern and plan a series of lectures and debates open to the public for a small fee” (435). This was, ultimately, quite unsuccessful. However, more important than this unsuccessful attempt was the man himself. Macklin was perhaps one of the more influential presences in the theatre world, at this time. Well-known for his portrayal of Shylock in Shakespeare's //The Merchant of Venice//, he was well known for his school of natural acting. According to Library Ireland, “ He warmly seconded Garrick's efforts to introduce a more natural style of acting in place of the formal strut and stilted tones theretofore considered essential. It is to be regretted that the good understanding between them did not continue in after life. After a dispute with the manager, and his consequent exclusion from Drury Lane, in 1744, Macklin opened the little theatre of the Haymarket.” In a brief summary of his life, Macklin faced a considerable amount of controversy, including the killing of one of his fellow actors. While Macklin's failed attempt to open a tavern might seem completely irrelevant, it shows how Macklin, a very famous name of the time, faced a good deal of social exile in this season.

In the later half of the season, Garrick presented a new tragedy, John Brown's //Barbarossa// (17 December), and had 76 performers over 182 nights (436). Rich's company played for 188 nights.

=**Creusa, Queen of Athens** = //Creusa, Queen of Athens// was written by Mr. William Whitehead, and was first performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. It was printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mell and sold by M. Cooper in Pater-Noster-Row. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">**Brief Summary:** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Before the play, Whitehead offers a brief statement: “ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The subject of the following scenes is so ancient, so flightly mentioned by historians, and so fabulously treated by //Euripides// in his tragedy of //Ion,// that the author thought himself at liberty to make the story his own. Some glaring circumstances he was oblige to adhere to, which he was endeavoured to render probable” <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The play starts out with Ilyssus, a young attendant of a temple to Apollo at Adelphishepherding virgins and the queen of Athens, Creusa, to Phorbas, an old Athenian and “all-seeing”. They come to pray to Adonnis to save Athens. Nothing is wrong with the kingdom's people, though Phorbas states:

“ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Thank Heaven, our crouded streets <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Have felt no dire disease; and plenty still <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">laughs in our blooming fields. Alas! I fear <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The childless Goddess who presides o'er //Athens// <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Has found a surer method to declare <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">how ill she brooks that any stranger hand <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Should wild th' //Athenian// Scepter” (3)

… <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">Which describes the conflict within the play. Likewise, the queen loved Nicander, who was banished and then found murdered. She then married Xuthus, not for love but for state. The curse stated above is due to Nicander's death, and Xuthus' unfortunate reign. Therefore, the group is looking for an heir of Nicander. Xuthus, of course, is not made aware of this. As it turns out, the queen had a son with Nicander, thus, an heir exists somewhere. Surprisingly, Nicander wasn't actually dead, and their heir is safe. The king thinks Ilyssus is the heir, and takes him. Everyone plans to kill the king and Ilyssus, as his not-actual-heir underling. Nicander then states that Ilyssus actually IS their heir, which causes the climax to occur in which many die, including Nicander and the queen. Xuthus lives, and Ilyssus is to be heir to the throne.

=<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">**Conclusion:** = <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">While I am not, in absolutely any way, arguing that this was Whitehead's motivation in writing //Creusa, Queen of Athens,// I am quite curious by the line “A banished youth is Athen's cause of woe” (23). This line could be related back to Charles II's banishment, and then being brought back to rule after the majority of his family was killed. //Creusa, Queen of Athens// was fairly widely popular, so I am curious what, if any, political motivations are present within the work. The subject matter in the play is “so ancient, so flightly mentioned by historians, and so fabulously treated by //Euripides// in his tragedy of //Ion”,// so I would, without question, qualify the play as a “political play”, though hesitate to involve Charles II's reign. Though, because this play takes place in the 18th-century (albeit quite late into the century), its motivation must be questioned.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Citations:

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">"Charles Macklin." //Library Ireland.// Web.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Findlay, Robert R. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Educational Theatre Journal //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">. Vol. 19, No. 1, Special English-Irish Theatre Issue (Mar,, 1967), pp. 33-40.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Fitz-Adam, Adam. //The World.// 2.53-104 (1753-1754). Web. //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The London Stage, 1660 - 1800 Part 4, 1747-1776. //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois U Pr., 1968. Print