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Schoolchildren or Citizen Shareholders?: Provincial Repertory Audiences, Letters to the Editor, and Public Subscription
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 April 2017
Extract
When the Abbey Theatre installed a nightly police cordon to silence protesting playgoers during the 1907 run of Synge's The Playboy of the Western World, spectators voiced their objections in newsprint. Under pseudonyms like “A Western Girl,” “A Commonplace Person,” “A Much Interested Foreigner,” and “A Lover of Liberty,” correspondents sent letters to the Dublin Evening Telegraph, Freeman's Journal, and Dublin Evening Mail. “Vox Populi” wrote that the arrested protesters “showed an admirable public spirit, which in any other country would be highly honoured.” “Oryza” reported a conversation overheard from the stalls in which Synge had said that the audience's hissing was “quite legitimate.” After journalist and Galway MP Stephen Gwynn penned a letter supporting the Abbey, biographer D. J. O'Donoghue responded that “the vindictiveness which has been shown night after night in expelling and prosecuting people who ahve [sic], in their excitement, called out ‘It's a libel’ or ‘shame,’ or otherwise mildly protested, is a serious menace to the freedom of an audience.” He referred to the furor as a “newspaper controversy”; others called it a “newspaper war.” In a public discussion at the Abbey after the play's run, Yeats quoted from the correspondence when defending his decision to call in the police. According to playwright William Boyle, the controversy boiled down to political representation. In a letter to the Freeman's Journal, he argued that protesters had not reacted “by staying away,” as some supporters had suggested they should, “because the ‘Abbey’ is a subsidised theatre, independent of the money taken at the door. Therefore … the public had no remedy, but the one resorted to.” Private subsidy had muffled the democratic shuffling of playgoers’ pocketbooks; forced to shut their mouths inside the theatre, playgoers opened up to the newspapers that circulated around it.
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References
Endnotes
1. “Vox Populi,” letter to the editor, Dublin Evening Telegraph, 3 February 1907.
2. “Oryza,” letter to the editor, Dublin Evening Telegraph, 4 February 1907.
3. D. J. O'Donoghue, letter to the editor, Dublin Evening Telegraph, 4 February 1907; Michael O'Dempsey, letter to the editor, Irish Times, 11 February 1907.
4. William Boyle, letter to the editor, Freeman's Journal, 4 February 1907. Boyle temporarily withdrew his plays from the Abbey during the Playboy controversy.
5. Arthur Bingham Walkley, “The Drama,” Times Literary Supplement, 24 March 1905.
6. Long, Helen C., The Edwardian House: The Middle-Class Home in Britain, 1880–1914 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993), 9Google Scholar.
7. Ireland was not subject to the Lord Chamberlain's censorship.
8. S. R. Littlewood, “Citizens’ Theatres,” Daily Chronicle (London), 13 December 1911.
9. In London, professional alternatives to the long-run commercial theatre were joining a coterie society, such as the Independent Theatre Society or the Incorporated Stage Society, or attending the repertory seasons at Barker and Vedrenne's Royal Court (1904–7). The project from which this essay is drawn examines these metropolitan enterprises extensively, and they are essential to the history of the British repertory movement. However, in this essay I have focused on public-subscription theatres, which primarily were a provincial phenomenon.
10. The only not-for-profit scheme to preexist the repertory movement was an 1811 plan for a subscription theatre in Marylebone. Davis, Tracy C., The Economics of the British Stage, 1800–1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 231Google Scholar, 171, 10, 173, 238–40.
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27. J. F. H., “The Perfect Audience,” Yorkshire Telegraph, 9 May 1912.
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35. J. G., letter to the editor, Glasgow Herald, 29 April 1909. According to the OED, “playgoer” follows from the earlier “churchgoer.”
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39. Quoted in “Repertory Theatres,” Manchester Guardian, 18 March 1912.
40. Alfred J. Bent, letter to the editor, Glasgow Herald, 30 April 1909.
41. Quoted in “Manchester and the Gaiety Theatre,” Manchester Guardian, 17 December 1913.
42. Quoted in “The Repertory Theatre Movement,” Yorkshire Observer, 4 October 1912.
43. Quoted in “Municipal Theatres,” Manchester Guardian, 23 September 1907.
44. Starting in 1909 with £70,000 anonymously donated by Sir Carl Meyer, organizers decided that the Shakespeare Memorial National Theatre “would be far more national and real if it were erected by a large number of small donations rather than as the result of a few big subscriptions.” They managed to raise £30,000 (including a surprising £14 from Dublin) before dropping “National” from the title in the hope that subscriptions might come “pouring in” from America, Germany, Italy, Hungary, and South America. The Royal National Theatre finally found its feet in 1963. “Shakespeare Memorial National Theatre,” Times (London), 7 April 1910; “Shakespeare Memorial National Theatre,” Times (London), 9 December 1911. Dublin subscription amount from Receipt Book, 1910–16, Shakespeare Memorial National Theatre, GB 2080 SMNT/8/5, Royal National Theatre Archive, London.
45. Quoted in “Mr. Irving on the Drama,” Times (London), 27 September 1894.
46. Horniman: “This Playgoers’ Theatre is a speculation of my own, and I hope to make money by it … a financial success and an artistic success. I want to see plays produced that it will be worth paying to see, from the point of view of the public.” Quoted in “Manchester's New Theatre,” Manchester Courier, 28 September 1907.
47. Quoted in “New Theatres for the Provinces,” Daily Despatch, 17 March 1911.
48. “The Drama as a ‘Public Service,’” Glasgow Herald, 29 October 1910.
49. Quoted in “Repertory at Croydon,” The Era (London), 22 February 1913.
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51. Quoted in “Repertory Theatre Movement,” Yorkshire Observer.
52. Quoted in “Manchester's New Theatre,” Manchester Courier.
53. W. A. Brabner, letter to the editor, Manchester Guardian, 23 July 1907.
54. Constance Ray, “Theatre,” Daily Chronicle (London), 4 November 1909.
55. “£40,000 For A Theatre,” Liverpool Courier, 1 June 1911.
56. “Liverpool's Repertory,” Glasgow Times, 26 September 1911.
57. Quoted in “Repertory Theatre Movement,” Yorkshire Observer.
58. “Our Dramatic Candidates,” Glasgow Herald, 7 January 1910.
59. At the time, single women ratepayers could vote in municipal but not national elections.
60. “Glasgow Repertory Theatre,” Times (London), 19 October 1909; “The Appeal for a Repertory Theatre,” Observer (London), 4 January 1914.
61. “Gaiety Theatre,” Manchester Guardian, 31 October 1911.
62. “The Repertory Theatre,” Eastern Daily Press, 2 May 1912.
63. “A Citizens’ Theatre,” Glasgow Herald, 19 November 1909.
64. “Prospectus,” Liverpool Courier, 26 May 1911; “Prospectus,” Liverpool Post, 26 May 1911.
65. Oliver Elton, letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 6 June 1911.
66. “The Repertory Theatre,” Liverpool Post, 14 June 1911.
67. “Onward,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 14 January 1914.
68. This was according to Professor Reilly, who lectured the Sheffield Playgoers’ Society and was paraphrased as saying: “A large number of subscribers were working-men, which was very good. The only thing that worried him was when he found a plumber with £100 in the company. It might mean something to such a man if the company did not pay its 6 per cent, which was the maximum to which its dividends were limited.” “Wealth & Culture,” Sheffield Telegraph, 22 January 1912.
69. “Liverpool's Repertory Scheme,” Sunday Chronicle (London), 18 June 1911; Littlewood (see note 8).
70. Program, Man and Superman, 29 September 1910, Records of Scottish Repertory Theatre GB 247 STA Fm 11, Special Collections Department, Glasgow University Library.
71. Program, A Doll's House, 16 September 1912, Liverpool Repertory Theatre Programmes, 792.1 PLA, Liverpool Central Library Archive.
72. E. F. S., “The New Liverpool Repertory Theatre,” Westminster Gazette, 28 October 1911.
73. “Abbey Theatre Endowment Fund: Subscriptions Already Received,” Irish Times, 7 November 1910.
74. “Matters of Moment,” Irish Independent, 29 October 1910.
75. “Repertory,” Liverpool Porcupine, 18 May 1912.
76. “A Docker,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 7 February 1914.
77. After protests from suffragettes, Sexton vowed to change the villain's gender for future productions. “A Non-militant suffragist,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 16 February 1914.
78. T. Herbert Kendrick, letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 22 December 1913.
79. “A Gallery Boy,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Courier, 30 December 1913.
80. B. D. M., letter to the editor, Glasgow Herald, 15 June 1912.
81. “Playfellow,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 17 December 1913.
82. “Disgusted,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 24 September 1912.
83. “Liverpool Playgoers’ Society,” Liverpool Courier, 10 May 1912.
84. Reilly (see note 29).
85. “Convinced,” letter to the editor, Glasgow Herald, 24 June 1909.
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87. “Playgoer,” letter to the editor, Glasgow Herald, 24 June 1909.
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89. In the nineteenth century, wealthy playgoers migrated from boxes to the renovated pit, now called the “stalls.” For a description of “Johnny in the stalls,” see “A National Theatre,” Tribune, 28 October 1907. For a description of “’Arry and ’Arriet,” see “Shakespeare Day,” Birmingham Gazette, 25 April 1910.
90. “The Repertory and Its Patrons,” Liverpool Porcupine, 9 December 1911.
91. I. L. W., letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 17 December 1913. Another correspondent observed that the family circle was the “gallery rechristened (democratically).” Andreas, letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 15 December 1913.
92. “Two Pun’ Ten,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 17 December 1913.
93. “An Elderly Playgoer,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 20 December 1913.
94. T., letter to the editor, Glasgow Herald, 12 February 1912.
95. “A Plain Liverpolitan,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 16 December 1913.
96. Alfred Wareing, letter to the editor, Glasgow Herald, 12 February 1912.
97. Quoted in “Repertory Theatre Problem,” Liverpool Post, 18 December 1913.
98. Reilly (see note 29).
99. Quoted in “New Theatres for the Provinces,” Daily Despatch.
100. “The Woman in the Stalls,” letter to the editor, Times (London), 31 May 1910.
101. Quoted in “Shakespeare Day,” Birmingham Gazette.
102. This model, which allowed for plays to be taken down or reshelved with greater frequency, required even more cash up front. Nobody had managed to implement it on a permanent basis before. “What the Public Wants,” Liverpool Post, 25 March 1914.
103. Glasgow Rep's subscription funds were redistributed to the Scottish National Players. The Rep's mission statement later was adopted by the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow. For more, see Hutchison, David, The Modern Scottish Theatre (Glasgow: Molendinar Press, 1977), 12–26 Google Scholar. Liverpool Rep survived the war by reorganizing on a Commonwealth model. For more, see Merkin, Ros, Liverpool Playhouse: A Theatre and Its City (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2011)Google Scholar. For more on the Abbey, see Frazier, Adrian, Behind the Scenes: Yeats, Horniman, and the Struggle for the Abbey Theatre (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990)Google Scholar.
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108. Thomas Pigott, letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 23 December 1913.
109. “A Shareholder,” letter to the editor, Liverpool Post, 27 December 1913.
110. Balme, 13.