THE LONDON STAGE 1800-1900

Joseph Donohue and James Ellis, General Editors

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THE SANS PAREIL THEATRE

(later THE ADELPHI THEATRE)

1806-1900

Seasonal Summary for 1808-1809

Edited by John W. Brokaw

A Publication of

The Adelphi Calendar Project

Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross, General Editors

Theodore J. Seward, Jr., Systems Analyst

1992

Contents

Theatre Information

Sans Pareil Theatre. Doors open 5:30, curtain 6:30, half price 8:30.

Ticket prices: box 4/-, pit 2/-.

Seasonal Dates

3 December 1808 - 13 July 1809

146 performances: 146 evening

Benefit (3): Miss Scott (6 Mar 1809)
Garbois (6 Jul 1809)
Powers (10 Jul 1809)
Dark (4): Christmas Eve (24 Dec 1808)
Christmas Day (25 Dec 1808)
Martyr's Day (30 Jan 1809)
Ash Wednesday (15 Feb 1809)

The Season

The Sans Pareil opened late this season but remained open for more than 140 evenings between 3 December 1808 and 13 July 1809. Two companies performed at the theatre during this time. The resident Sans Pareil company, under the management of Gabriel Giroux, ended its season 25 March (advertisement, 25 March LTM Collection). Holland of Covent Garden then took the house, as he had in the previous summer. However, there was no interval between winter and summer seasons, and there was overlap in the repertory and the performer rosters. The Bashaw, The Magistrate, and Mother White Cap were given under both managements, Mother White Cap running for two months after March 25. In the absence of sufficient playbills, it is impossible to know all the actors who stayed on from the winter season, but advertisements tell that Jane M. Scott herself performed for the first month of the second season. James Kirby, making his first appearance at the Sans Pareil on 4 March, played Clown to the end of the summer, And Madame Louis danced Columbine in both February and July.

The largely juvenile company of the 1807-08 season was succeeded this year by a small group of mature, skilled actors. Some of these had been at Covent Garden when it burned in September, 1808, including John Isaacs, Mrs. James F. Pyne and Slader. (It is possible that both S. Slader and Abraham Slader were at the theatre this season.) Lewin and Garbois, who were at Drury Lane when it burned in February, 1809, came in the summer. Mrs. Garbois made her "first appearance on any stage" at this time as well. An important member of the company was Kirby, at various times in his career clown, dancer, scene painter and acting manager. Denham returned for a second season, and Hunt, described by the younger Charles Dibdin as "a clever little man," stayed from January to April, when he went to Sadler's Wells. He returned to the Sans Pareil the next winter. Mrs. Ridgway was Columbine this summer, as she had been in the previous year.

Most of the pieces given through April were the work of Jane Scott. The Magistrate, her successful play of the preceding season, returned in December, 1808, for thirty-five performances. The Rout, a song and recitation piece from the 1806-07 season, was performed by her at her March, 1809 benefit. Miss Scott also wrote at least three new pieces for the present season. The Bashaw: or, Midnight Adventures of Three Spaniards, a "new musical melo Turkish piece," ran fifty-nine nights and was revived the next season. A laudatory review in the Times for 31 January said "places at the Sans Pareil Theatre will soon be at a premium if the proprietor continues to bring forward such pieces as The Bashaw. . . . Miss Scott plays and sings the female Bashaw to admiration, nor does she look the worse for the assumed mustachios. . . . The other interludes are various and excellent and we are happy to add that the house is uncommonly well attended" (clipping in James Winston's Adelphi Scrapbook). The whole strength of the company appeared in this piece, as it did in The Red Robber; or, The Statue in the Wood, a "grand new serio-comic spectacle" which ran the first sixty-seven nights of the season. Miss Scott's first pantomime, Mother White Cap; or, Hey Up the Chimney, played from February to May. Kirby was Clown and Lardner Pantaloon. Hunt and Lewin played Harlequin and Madame Louis and Mrs. Ridgway Columbine.

The latter part of the summer saw brief runs of many pieces: comedies such as The Glimmer; or Sir Solomon's Wedding; the spectacles Double Defeat; or British Tars and Austrian Troops and Female Courage; or The Banditti of the Rock; the ballets Rozelli and Rosa and The Fish and the Ring; and the pantomimes The Deserter of Naples and Harlequin Cottager; or The Wandering Fairy. E. L. Blanchard in his "History of the Adelphi" notes that Harlequin Cottager was "written by and produced under the direction of Mr. Kirby, who not only designed and painted all the scenery, but acted Clown to the Harlequin of Mr. Garbois and the Columbine of Mrs. Ridgway" (Era Almanack, 1877, p. 2).

The Sans Pareil was a lively variety house once again. Henry Hengler walked the rope in the winter and the famous "Charming" Jack Richer did the same in the summer. Garbois leaped over ten men, and James Kirby danced on two ladders. Andrew Campbell gave his imitations of London actors. He also sang, as did Miss Samuels and Miss Ingle, Slader and Miss Woods. Goodwin, later ballet master at this house for a season, danced on the same program with Mrs. Ridgway, and he danced with Miss Twamley from the Opera House. Though Giroux's dance pupils of the preceding season had departed, several children performed. Master Aubun, an "infant phenomenon" whom Dibdin introduced at Sadler's Wells the previous spring, helped open the season on 3 December. He was advertised as a self-taught violinist, five years of age. Master Whale, "under seven years of age," danced a pas seul in January. Master James Wallack, "late of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane," performed in July.

This season the Sans Pareil enjoyed some stability in its staffing. Gabriel Giroux was now an experienced manager. James Sanderson was returning for his second season as band leader and composer. Morris again designed and built the scenery. And John Scott, free from day-to-day managing, concentrated on the stage machinery and on his "splendid artificial fireworks, unequalled in Europe" (newsclip, 31 December 1808).

JB FM

Theatre Management And Functionaries

Authors

Scott, Miss Jane M. Bashaw, The (23 Jan 1809)
Magistrate, The (19 Dec 1808)
Mother White Cap (27 Feb 1809)
Red Robber, The (3 Dec 1808)
Rout, The (6 Mar 1809)
Unknown Deserter of Naples, The (10 Jul 1809)
Double Defeat (6 Jul 1809)
Female Courage (6 Jul 1809)
Fish and the Ring, The (3 Apr 1809)
Ghost in the Rigging-House, The (3 Dec 1808)
Glimmer, The (10 Jul 1809)
Harlequin Cottager (31 May 1809)
Two Little Savoyards, The (24 Apr 1809)
Village Sports (9 Jan 1809)

Musical Composers And Arrangers

Sanderson, James Bashaw, The (23 Jan 1809)
Mother White Cap (27 Feb 1809)
Red Robber, The (3 Dec 1808)

Choreographers

Corri, Montague P?. Rozelli and Rosa (1 May 1809)
Louis, Madame Bashaw, The (23 Jan 1809)
Unknown Britons Strike Home (6 Jul 1809)

Actors

Campbell, Andrew

Claremont (40) in Two Little Savoyards (24 Apr 1809 - 10 Jun 1809)

Denham

principal characters (59) in Bashaw (23 Jan 1809 - 22 Apr 1809); bailiff (40) in Two Little Savoyards (24 Apr 1809 - 10 Jun 1809)

Garbois

Chief of the robbers (1) in Female Courage (6 Jul 1809); Harlequin (1) in Harlequin Cottager (6 Jul 1809)

Hunt

principal characters (59) in Bashaw (23 Jan 1809 - 22 Apr 1809); Harlequin (16) in Mother White Cap (27 Feb 1809 - 25 Mar 1809)

Isaacs, John

principal characters (59) in Bashaw (23 Jan 1809 - 22 Apr 1809); principal characters (67) in Red Robber (3 Dec 1808 - 25 Feb 1809)

Kirby, James

Clown (15) in Harlequin Cottager (31 May 1809 - 13 Jul 1809); Clown (64) in Mother White Cap (27 Feb 1809 - 27 May 1809); principal characters (34) in Rozelli and Rosa (1 May 1809 - 10 Jun 1809)

Lardner

Pantaloon (64) in Mother White Cap (27 Feb 1809 - 27 May 1809)

Lewin

Harlequin (48) in Mother White Cap (3 Apr 1809 - 27 May 1809)

Michell

Joset (40) in Two Little Savoyards (24 Apr 1809 - 10 Jun 1809)

Richer, Jack

Henry (4) in Deserter of Naples (10 Jul 1809 - 13 Jul 1809); Harlequin (4) in Harlequin Cottager (10 Jul 1809 - 13 Jul 1809)

Slader, Abraham

principal characters (59) in Bashaw (23 Jan 1809 - 22 Apr 1809)

Slader, S.

principal characters (67) in Red Robber (3 Dec 1808 - 25 Feb 1809)

Woolf

principal characters (59) in Bashaw (23 Jan 1809 - 22 Apr 1809); principal characters (67) in Red Robber (3 Dec 1808 - 25 Feb 1809); Lord Frederick (40) in Two Little Savoyards (24 Apr 1809 - 10 Jun 1809)

Actresses

Garbois, Mrs.

Matilda (1) in Female Courage (6 Jul 1809)

Louis, Madame

Columbine (15) in Harlequin Cottager (31 May 1809 - 13 Jul 1809); Columbine (16) in Mother White Cap (27 Feb 1809 - 25 Mar 1809)

Parkinson, Mrs.

Mother White Cap (64) in Mother White Cap (27 Feb 1809 - 27 May 1809)

Pyne, Mrs. James F.

principal characters (59) in Bashaw (23 Jan 1809 - 22 Apr 1809); principal characters (67) in Red Robber (3 Dec 1808 - 25 Feb 1809); Two Little Savoyards (40) in Two Little Savoyards (24 Apr 1809 - 10 Jun 1809)

Ridgway, Mrs. Thomas E.

Columbine (48) in Mother White Cap (3 Apr 1809 - 27 May 1809); principal characters (34) in Rozelli and Rosa (1 May 1809 - 10 Jun 1809); Two Little Savoyards (40) in Two Little Savoyards (24 Apr 1809 - 10 Jun 1809)

Scott, Miss Jane M.

principal characters (59) in Bashaw (23 Jan 1809 - 22 Apr 1809); Edward (35) in Magistrate (19 Dec 1808 - 29 Apr 1809); principal characters (67) in Red Robber (3 Dec 1808 - 25 Feb 1809); principal character (1) in Rout (6 Mar 1809)

Musicians

Singers

Dancers

Entertainers

Pieces Performed And Summary Cast Lists

* Bashaw, The; or, Midnight Adventures of Three Spaniards

(musical entertainment) by Miss Jane M. Scott, James Sanderson (comp), Madame Louis (chor) (59 times, 23 Jan 1809 - 22 Apr 1809)

Summary Cast:

Britons Strike Home; or, Which of the Three?

(comic entertainment) by Unknown (chor) (5 times, 6 Jul 1809 - 13 Jul 1809)

Deserter of Naples, The

(pantomime) by Unknown (4 times, 10 Jul 1809 - 13 Jul 1809)

Summary Cast:

* Double Defeat; or, British Tars and Austrian Troops

(spectacle) by Unknown (1 time, 6 Jul 1809)

* Female Courage; or, The Banditti of the Rock

(spectacle) by Unknown (1 time, 6 Jul 1809)

Summary Cast:

Fish and the Ring, The; or, Irish Frolic

(ballet) by Unknown (42 times, 3 Apr 1809 - 20 May 1809)

Ghost in the Rigging-House, The; or, Woolwich in an Uproar

(ballet) by Unknown (30 times, 3 Dec 1808 - 7 Jan 1809)

Glimmer, The; or, Sir Solomon's Wedding

(entertainment) by Unknown (4 times, 10 Jul 1809 - 13 Jul 1809)

* Harlequin Cottager; or, The Wandering Fairy

(comic pantomime) by Unknown (15 times, 31 May 1809 - 13 Jul 1809)

Summary Cast:

Magistrate, The

(musical entertainment) by Miss Jane M. Scott (35 times, 19 Dec 1808 - 29 Apr 1809)

Summary Cast:

Mother White Cap; or, Hey Up the Chimney

(comic pantomime) by Miss Jane M. Scott, James Sanderson (comp) (64 times, 27 Feb 1809 - 27 May 1809)

Summary Cast:

* Red Robber, The; or, The Statue in the Wood

(spectacle) by Miss Jane M. Scott, James Sanderson (comp) (67 times, 3 Dec 1808 - 25 Feb 1809)

Summary Cast:

Rout, The

(entertainment) by Miss Jane M. Scott (1 time, 6 Mar 1809)

Summary Cast:

* Rozelli and Rosa; or, The Faithless Friend

(ballet) by Montague P?. Corri (chor) (34 times, 1 May 1809 - 10 Jun 1809)

Summary Cast:

Two Little Savoyards, The

(musical entertainment) by Unknown (40 times, 24 Apr 1809 - 10 Jun 1809)

Summary Cast:

Village Sports; or, The Farmer's Birth Day

(ballet) by Unknown (17 times, 9 Jan 1809 - 6 Mar 1809)

Genre

Music, Composers, And Musicians

Songs, Composers, And Singers

Dances, Choreographers, And Dancers

Adelphi Theatre

End Of 1808-1809 Season

(Generated 30-Sep-1998)

© Copyright 1988 by Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross

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