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Lisle's Tennis Court

November 12, 2023

51°30′55″N 0°6′55″W / 51.51528°N 0.11528°W / 51.51528; -0.11528

William Davenant had Lisle's Tennis Court converted into a theatre in 1661. His troupe continued to perform there after his death in 1668, until 1671.

Lisle's Tennis Court was a building off Portugal Street in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. Originally built as a real tennis court, it was used as a playhouse during two periods, 1661–1674 and 1695–1705. During the early period, the theatre was called Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse, also known as The Duke's Playhouse, The New Theatre or The Opera. The building was rebuilt in 1714, and used again as a theatre for a third period, 1714–1732. The tennis court theatre was the first public playhouse in London to feature the moveable scenery that would become a standard feature of Restoration theatres.

Historical background edit

The period beginning in England in 1642 and lasting until 1660 is known as the Interregnum, meaning "between kings." At this time, there was no monarch on the throne, and theatre was against the law. Spanning from 1642 to 1649, the English Civil War occurred. This war was an uprising against the current King of England, King Charles I, led by Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan. Cromwell's opposition to the throne was religious but political, as well, which led him to build up an army with the ability to imprison King Charles, who was beheaded in 1649, ending the war. After his death, the King's wife and children were given permission to leave the country, so they travelled to France to escape and receive protection.

The years following became known as the Commonwealth Era (1649-1660) because Cromwell, who established himself as the monarch figure without assuming any official authority, ruled the nation with Parliament support and renamed the England Republic to the English Commonwealth. These were tough times for England as Cromwell persecuted many families, especially those who fought on the behalf of King Charles I and Irish families that held rustic Catholic beliefs. Needless to say, Oliver Cromwell quickly fell out of the majority's favour, and he died in 1658 of natural causes. Two years later, Charles II, the beheaded king's son, returned to England and began the Restoration by restoring the throne and claiming his role as the proper King of England.

In addition, King Charles II's return restored the legality of theatre. This history is significant because it explains that since Charles II spent most of his life in France, he, as King, appreciated French culture, which prominently impressed upon England during the Restoration, particularly Restoration theatre.

Structure edit

There are no extant photos, elaborate diagrams, paintings, or other forms of visual evidence of the inside of the Lincoln's Inn theatre, but certain aspects are understood of the theatre according to its time period. However, a great example of the layout of the inside is the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire, which contains components of Restoration theatre spaces and still stands today. Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse was very small. In fact, Milhous believes that "the smaller seating capacity… hurt the [Duke’s] company in the long run" as they moved as newer theatres came along (Milhous 71). It was around 75 feet long by 30 feet wide with about a 650-person audience seating maximum capacity (The Restoration Theater; Wilson and Goldfarb 249). It was originally an indoor tennis court; courts were used as theatre spaces because they had a similar structure with a narrow, rectangular shape and gallery seating. The stage was raked, sloping upward toward the back of the stage, in order to help with perspective. The audience was divided into the pit, boxes, and galleries. The pit had backless benches and a raked floor that rose toward the back of the audience to help sightlines. Mostly single men sat here, and it was the noisiest, rowdiest area in the theatre. Boxes sat upper class aristocrats—mostly married couples with wives who wanted to be seen. Galleries held the lower class, including servants of the upper classes in attendance.

The English stage, unlike French or Italian theatres, had a very deep apron to provide adequate acting space, and the background and perspective scenery served as solely as scenery. The Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse orchestra was housed beneath the stage, and the apron was extended two feet to cover completely the orchestra pit and obtain close proximity between the actors and the audience, creating an intimate atmosphere. Another uniqueness of English theatres is that there were typically two pairs of doors, one on each side of the stage, called proscenium doors with balconies above them for the actors to utilize in performances. Proscenium doors served as entrances and exits disregarding the possibility of multiple locations. Candelabras provided light for the space, and manual moveable scenery was used to move the show along (The Restoration Theater).

The Duke's Company edit

The building was constructed as a real tennis court in 1656. Thomas Lisle's wife Anne Tyler and a man named James Hooker developed the indoor court in the winter of 1656 and 1657.[1] Tudor-style real tennis courts were long, high-ceiling buildings, with galleries for spectators; their dimensions — about 75 by 30 feet — are similar to the earlier theatres, and much larger than a modern tennis court.[2]

After the English Restoration in 1660, Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse received its first company through the efforts of the King himself and two men who dedicated themselves to theatre. Sir William Davenant had received a patent from Charles the I in 1639 when he was in power, but he had never used it due to the theatre ban. When theatre was restored, Davenant and a man named Thomas Killigrew wanted to create theatre in England and thus, Killigrew obtained a warrant expressing that he could "raise a company and a theatre, provided that his company and Davenant's should be the only ones allowed to play in London" (Hotson 199). Davenant, then, drafted their joint warrant and after much debate over whether or not their role in theatre infringed on the Master of the Revels' power, they appealed to Charles II. Charles II determined their Letters of Patent were valid and created two companies to perform "legitimate drama" in London: the Duke's Company of his brother, The Duke of York, led by William Davenant, and his company, the King's Company, led by Thomas Killigrew. Original intentions were positive, but competition was quickly apparent between the two. Both companies briefly performed in the theatrical spaces that had survived the interregnum and civil war (including the Cockpit and Salisbury Court), but scrambled to quickly acquire facilities that were more to current tastes. Taking a hint from their new King's taste, Killigrew and Davenant both chose a solution that had been used in France: converting tennis courts into theatres.

In March 1660, Sir William Davenant contracted to lease Lisle's Tennis Court in order to renovate it into a theatre, and he bought adjoining land to expand the building into the garden area. Killigrew's theatre on Vere Street (Gibbon's Tennis Court) opened first, in November 1660. Davenant apparently spent more time in his remodelling: Lincoln's Inn Fields opened on 28 June 1661, with the first "moveable" or "changeable" scenery used on the British public stage, and the first proscenium arch. Wings or shutters ran in grooves and could be smoothly and mechanically changed between or even within acts. The production was a revamped version of Davenant's own five-year-old opera The Siege of Rhodes where the soon-to-be famous actor, Thomas Betterton, performed the prologue.[3] The result was such a sensation that it brought Charles II to a public theatre for the first time.[4] This production at Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse "emptied Killigrew's theatre" according to Milhous (19). Milhous also explains that the companies and other theatres "deliberately engaged in vicious head-on collision[s], mounting the same plays" (19). The competing King's Company suddenly found itself playing to empty houses, as diarist and devoted playgoer Samuel Pepys notes on 4 July:

I went to the theatre [in Vere Street] and there I saw Claracilla (the first time I ever saw it), well acted. But strange to see this house, that use to be so thronged, now empty since the opera begun—and so will continue for a while I believe.[5]

The Siege of Rhodes "continued acting 12 days without interruption with great applause" according to the prompter John Downes in his "historical review of the stage" Roscius Anglicanus (1708). This was a remarkable run for the limited potential audience of the time. More acclaimed productions by the Duke's Company "with scenes" followed at Lincoln's Inn Fields in the course of 1661 (including Hamlet and Twelfth Night), all highly admired by Pepys.[6] The King's Company was forced to abandon their own, technically unsophisticated tennis-court theatre and commission the construction of a new theatre in Bridges Street, where the Theatre Royal opened in 1663.

Prince Cosimo III of Tuscany visited the Lisle theatre in 1669, and his official diarist left us this account:

[The pit] is surrounded within by separate compartments in which there are several degrees [steps] of seating for the greater comfort of the ladies and gentlemen who, according to the liberal custom of the country, share the same boxes. Down below [in the pit] there remains a broad space for other members of the audience. The scenery is entirely changeable, with various transformations and lovely perspectives. Before the play begins, to render the waiting less annoying and inconvenient, there are very graceful instrumental pieces to be heard, with the result that many go early just to enjoy this part of the entertainment.[7]

 
Thomas Betterton painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

The theatre was implicated by the Grand Jury of Middlesex on 7 July 1703 for showcasing "profane, irrelevant, lewd, indecent, and immoral expressions". It was also a hot target for riots and disorderly assemblies, murders, and other misdemeanors, but despite its troubles, the theatre remained very popular including hosting the first paid performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in 1700 and Handel's final two operas (Pedicord 41).

Davenant died in 1668 and the Duke's Company, now under Thomas Betterton, performed out of Lincoln's Inns Fields until 1671, when they relocated to the elaborate new Dorset Garden Theatre which was more popular at the time. In 1672, the theatre in Bridges Street burnt down, and the King's Company temporarily occupied the recently vacated Lincoln's Inn Field, until their new theatre opened in 1674.

Betterton and Rich edit

The building was converted back to a tennis court and remained one for almost 20 years. During that time, the Duke's Company, occupying the Dorset Theatre, subsumed the King's Company, housed in the newly rebuilt Theatre Royal, to form the United Company, performing out of Drury Lane. Betterton, a famous English actor, was forced out as the head of the company in 1688, staying on as an actor (and filling a day-to-day managerial role) while a succession of leaders embezzled funds and cut costs by cutting actors' salaries. This uniting created many conflicts between the members of the companies. For example, each company would have one actor who would always play Hamlet, but when the companies are combined, who claims the role? Due to rivalry and competition within the United Company, Thomas Betterton petitioned to the king to separate and create his own company. So, under Christopher Rich, the United Company split. Betterton left with a band of actors and a newly issued license to perform, and from 1695 to 1705 his company performed back at Lincoln's Inn Fields Playhouse, refurbishing the abandoned building back into a theatre. The New Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields opened in April 1695 with William Congreve's Love for Love.[8] It was later the first venue for Congreve's plays The Mourning Bride (1697) and The Way of the World (1700) and for Vanbrugh's comedy The Provoked Wife (1697).

The building went unused as a theatre from 1705 until it was refurbished again in 1714. Colley Cibber in his Apology wrote that Christopher Rich “rebuilt that Theatre from the Ground, as it is now standing”.[9] This has led to the belief that Rich demolished the entire building. If the structure was sound, this would have been unnecessary, time-consuming and expensive, especially as Cibber adds that Rich did it at his own expense. It is far more likely that it was merely the interior that was rebuilt, and Cibber's text has been misinterpreted.[10] Supporting evidence for this comes from the first issue of the British Journal on 22 September 1722 which reported that a fresco of Betterton, with other theatre figures of the period, had been uncovered during redecoration of the theatre. Rich also had no guarantee that he would receive a licence for the theatre, and would have kept costs to a minimum. As it turned out, he was able to take advantage of the accession of George 1st in August 1714 to obtain the necessary permission. Christopher Rich died in November 1714, but his son John Rich led a company at the theatre until 1728. On 29 January 1728, Rich's theatre hosted the first, very successful, production of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (making "Rich gay and Gay rich"). The theatre was abandoned in December 1732, when the company moved to the new Covent Garden Theatre, built by Rich using the capital generated by The Beggar's Opera.[14] A few years later Henry Giffard moved his company from Goodman's Fields at a time when he was trying to establish a third major theatre company in London. The Licensing Act 1737 largely dashed these hopes, although he continued to stage plays at Lincoln's Inn for several more years.

The old building was subsequently used as a barracks, an auction room, a warehouse for china, and was finally demolished in 1848 to make room for an extension to the neighbouring premises of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Selected premieres at the theatre edit

References edit

  1. ^ Hartnoll. Portions available online.[dead link]
  2. ^ Styan p. 238.
  3. ^ Pepys first records attending "the Opera" on its fourth day of opening, to watch the second half of The Siege of Rhodes, attended by King Charles II and his great aunt, Elizabeth of Bohemia: The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 2 July 1661.
  4. ^ Milhous p. 19.
  5. ^ The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 4 July 1661.
  6. ^ Milhous p. 19; Pepys records seeing Davenant's The Wits, on Thursday 15 August 1661,[1] and on two other occasions in the next 8 days [2][3]; Hamlet, Prince of Denmark on Saturday 24 August 1661;[4]; Twelfth Night on Wednesday 11 September 1661 [5]; and Davenant's Love and Honour three times in 4 days in October [6][7][8]; The Bondman by Philip Massinger twice in November,[9][10], The Siege of Rhodes[11] and Hamlet[12] one further time each, and finishing the year with Cutter of Coleman Street by Abraham Cowley on Monday 16 December 1661, having passed his first negative review, of The Mad Lover, on Monday 2 December 1661 [13].
  7. ^ Langhans p. 16. It was once believed that Cosimo III attended the Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, not the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
  8. ^ Donohue p. 7.
  9. ^ Cibber, Colley: Apology for the life of ... (London, John C Nimmo, 1889), vol. 2, p. 100
  10. ^ Jenkins, Terry: John Rich: the man who built Covent Garden Theatre (Bramber, Barn End Press, 2016), pp. 16-20.

Bibliography edit

  • Avery, Emmett L., and Arthur H. Scouten. The London Stage 1660-1700: A Critical Introduction. Arcturus Books. Southern Illinois University Press, 1968. Print.
  • Donohue, Joseph ed. (2004). The Cambridge History of British Theatre: Volume 2, 1660 to 1885. Cambridge University Press. Excerpt online.
  • Gaunt, Peter. "Cromwellian Britain - Lindsey House, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London." The Oliver Cromwell Website. The Cromwell Association, n.d. Web. 5 Feb 2013. <http://www.olivercromwell.org/lindsey_house.htm>.
  • Hartnoll, Phyllis; Found, Peter (1996). "Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre" The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. Oxford University Press.
  • Hotson, Leslie. The Commonwealth and Restoration Stage. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1928. Print.
  • Langhans, Edward (2001). "The Post-1660 Theatres as Performance Spaces". Owen, Sue A Companion to Restoration Drama. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Milhous, Judith (1979). Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln's Inn Fields 1695–1708. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
  • Spiers, Rupert (2002). from the site. Retrieved 14 August 2006.
  • Styan, John (1996). The English Stage: A History of Drama and Performance. Cambridge University Press.
  • The Restoration Theater: From Tennis Court to Playhouse. 2004. Film. Jan 2013.
  • Wilson, Edwin, and Alvin Goldfarb. Living Theatre: History of Theatre. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, 2012. Print.

November 12, 2023
lisle, tennis, court, 51528, 11528, 51528, 11528, william, davenant, converted, into, theatre, 1661, troupe, continued, perform, there, after, death, 1668, until, 1671, building, portugal, street, lincoln, fields, london, originally, built, real, tennis, court. 51 30 55 N 0 6 55 W 51 51528 N 0 11528 W 51 51528 0 11528 William Davenant had Lisle s Tennis Court converted into a theatre in 1661 His troupe continued to perform there after his death in 1668 until 1671 Lisle s Tennis Court was a building off Portugal Street in Lincoln s Inn Fields in London Originally built as a real tennis court it was used as a playhouse during two periods 1661 1674 and 1695 1705 During the early period the theatre was called Lincoln s Inn Fields Playhouse also known as The Duke s Playhouse The New Theatre or The Opera The building was rebuilt in 1714 and used again as a theatre for a third period 1714 1732 The tennis court theatre was the first public playhouse in London to feature the moveable scenery that would become a standard feature of Restoration theatres Contents 1 Historical background 2 Structure 3 The Duke s Company 4 Betterton and Rich 5 Selected premieres at the theatre 6 References 7 BibliographyHistorical background editThe period beginning in England in 1642 and lasting until 1660 is known as the Interregnum meaning between kings At this time there was no monarch on the throne and theatre was against the law Spanning from 1642 to 1649 the English Civil War occurred This war was an uprising against the current King of England King Charles I led by Oliver Cromwell a Puritan Cromwell s opposition to the throne was religious but political as well which led him to build up an army with the ability to imprison King Charles who was beheaded in 1649 ending the war After his death the King s wife and children were given permission to leave the country so they travelled to France to escape and receive protection The years following became known as the Commonwealth Era 1649 1660 because Cromwell who established himself as the monarch figure without assuming any official authority ruled the nation with Parliament support and renamed the England Republic to the English Commonwealth These were tough times for England as Cromwell persecuted many families especially those who fought on the behalf of King Charles I and Irish families that held rustic Catholic beliefs Needless to say Oliver Cromwell quickly fell out of the majority s favour and he died in 1658 of natural causes Two years later Charles II the beheaded king s son returned to England and began the Restoration by restoring the throne and claiming his role as the proper King of England In addition King Charles II s return restored the legality of theatre This history is significant because it explains that since Charles II spent most of his life in France he as King appreciated French culture which prominently impressed upon England during the Restoration particularly Restoration theatre Structure editThere are no extant photos elaborate diagrams paintings or other forms of visual evidence of the inside of the Lincoln s Inn theatre but certain aspects are understood of the theatre according to its time period However a great example of the layout of the inside is the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond North Yorkshire which contains components of Restoration theatre spaces and still stands today Lincoln s Inn Fields Playhouse was very small In fact Milhous believes that the smaller seating capacity hurt the Duke s company in the long run as they moved as newer theatres came along Milhous 71 It was around 75 feet long by 30 feet wide with about a 650 person audience seating maximum capacity The Restoration Theater Wilson and Goldfarb 249 It was originally an indoor tennis court courts were used as theatre spaces because they had a similar structure with a narrow rectangular shape and gallery seating The stage was raked sloping upward toward the back of the stage in order to help with perspective The audience was divided into the pit boxes and galleries The pit had backless benches and a raked floor that rose toward the back of the audience to help sightlines Mostly single men sat here and it was the noisiest rowdiest area in the theatre Boxes sat upper class aristocrats mostly married couples with wives who wanted to be seen Galleries held the lower class including servants of the upper classes in attendance The English stage unlike French or Italian theatres had a very deep apron to provide adequate acting space and the background and perspective scenery served as solely as scenery The Lincoln s Inn Fields Playhouse orchestra was housed beneath the stage and the apron was extended two feet to cover completely the orchestra pit and obtain close proximity between the actors and the audience creating an intimate atmosphere Another uniqueness of English theatres is that there were typically two pairs of doors one on each side of the stage called proscenium doors with balconies above them for the actors to utilize in performances Proscenium doors served as entrances and exits disregarding the possibility of multiple locations Candelabras provided light for the space and manual moveable scenery was used to move the show along The Restoration Theater The Duke s Company editThe building was constructed as a real tennis court in 1656 Thomas Lisle s wife Anne Tyler and a man named James Hooker developed the indoor court in the winter of 1656 and 1657 1 Tudor style real tennis courts were long high ceiling buildings with galleries for spectators their dimensions about 75 by 30 feet are similar to the earlier theatres and much larger than a modern tennis court 2 After the English Restoration in 1660 Lincoln s Inn Fields Playhouse received its first company through the efforts of the King himself and two men who dedicated themselves to theatre Sir William Davenant had received a patent from Charles the I in 1639 when he was in power but he had never used it due to the theatre ban When theatre was restored Davenant and a man named Thomas Killigrew wanted to create theatre in England and thus Killigrew obtained a warrant expressing that he could raise a company and a theatre provided that his company and Davenant s should be the only ones allowed to play in London Hotson 199 Davenant then drafted their joint warrant and after much debate over whether or not their role in theatre infringed on the Master of the Revels power they appealed to Charles II Charles II determined their Letters of Patent were valid and created two companies to perform legitimate drama in London the Duke s Company of his brother The Duke of York led by William Davenant and his company the King s Company led by Thomas Killigrew Original intentions were positive but competition was quickly apparent between the two Both companies briefly performed in the theatrical spaces that had survived the interregnum and civil war including the Cockpit and Salisbury Court but scrambled to quickly acquire facilities that were more to current tastes Taking a hint from their new King s taste Killigrew and Davenant both chose a solution that had been used in France converting tennis courts into theatres In March 1660 Sir William Davenant contracted to lease Lisle s Tennis Court in order to renovate it into a theatre and he bought adjoining land to expand the building into the garden area Killigrew s theatre on Vere Street Gibbon s Tennis Court opened first in November 1660 Davenant apparently spent more time in his remodelling Lincoln s Inn Fields opened on 28 June 1661 with the first moveable or changeable scenery used on the British public stage and the first proscenium arch Wings or shutters ran in grooves and could be smoothly and mechanically changed between or even within acts The production was a revamped version of Davenant s own five year old opera The Siege of Rhodes where the soon to be famous actor Thomas Betterton performed the prologue 3 The result was such a sensation that it brought Charles II to a public theatre for the first time 4 This production at Lincoln s Inn Fields Playhouse emptied Killigrew s theatre according to Milhous 19 Milhous also explains that the companies and other theatres deliberately engaged in vicious head on collision s mounting the same plays 19 The competing King s Company suddenly found itself playing to empty houses as diarist and devoted playgoer Samuel Pepys notes on 4 July I went to the theatre in Vere Street and there I saw Claracilla the first time I ever saw it well acted But strange to see this house that use to be so thronged now empty since the opera begun and so will continue for a while I believe 5 The Siege of Rhodes continued acting 12 days without interruption with great applause according to the prompter John Downes in his historical review of the stage Roscius Anglicanus 1708 This was a remarkable run for the limited potential audience of the time More acclaimed productions by the Duke s Company with scenes followed at Lincoln s Inn Fields in the course of 1661 including Hamlet and Twelfth Night all highly admired by Pepys 6 The King s Company was forced to abandon their own technically unsophisticated tennis court theatre and commission the construction of a new theatre in Bridges Street where the Theatre Royal opened in 1663 Prince Cosimo III of Tuscany visited the Lisle theatre in 1669 and his official diarist left us this account The pit is surrounded within by separate compartments in which there are several degrees steps of seating for the greater comfort of the ladies and gentlemen who according to the liberal custom of the country share the same boxes Down below in the pit there remains a broad space for other members of the audience The scenery is entirely changeable with various transformations and lovely perspectives Before the play begins to render the waiting less annoying and inconvenient there are very graceful instrumental pieces to be heard with the result that many go early just to enjoy this part of the entertainment 7 nbsp Thomas Betterton painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller The theatre was implicated by the Grand Jury of Middlesex on 7 July 1703 for showcasing profane irrelevant lewd indecent and immoral expressions It was also a hot target for riots and disorderly assemblies murders and other misdemeanors but despite its troubles the theatre remained very popular including hosting the first paid performance of Purcell s Dido and Aeneas in 1700 and Handel s final two operas Pedicord 41 Davenant died in 1668 and the Duke s Company now under Thomas Betterton performed out of Lincoln s Inns Fields until 1671 when they relocated to the elaborate new Dorset Garden Theatre which was more popular at the time In 1672 the theatre in Bridges Street burnt down and the King s Company temporarily occupied the recently vacated Lincoln s Inn Field until their new theatre opened in 1674 Betterton and Rich editThe building was converted back to a tennis court and remained one for almost 20 years During that time the Duke s Company occupying the Dorset Theatre subsumed the King s Company housed in the newly rebuilt Theatre Royal to form the United Company performing out of Drury Lane Betterton a famous English actor was forced out as the head of the company in 1688 staying on as an actor and filling a day to day managerial role while a succession of leaders embezzled funds and cut costs by cutting actors salaries This uniting created many conflicts between the members of the companies For example each company would have one actor who would always play Hamlet but when the companies are combined who claims the role Due to rivalry and competition within the United Company Thomas Betterton petitioned to the king to separate and create his own company So under Christopher Rich the United Company split Betterton left with a band of actors and a newly issued license to perform and from 1695 to 1705 his company performed back at Lincoln s Inn Fields Playhouse refurbishing the abandoned building back into a theatre The New Theatre in Lincoln s Inn Fields opened in April 1695 with William Congreve s Love for Love 8 It was later the first venue for Congreve s plays The Mourning Bride 1697 and The Way of the World 1700 and for Vanbrugh s comedy The Provoked Wife 1697 The building went unused as a theatre from 1705 until it was refurbished again in 1714 Colley Cibber in his Apology wrote that Christopher Rich rebuilt that Theatre from the Ground as it is now standing 9 This has led to the belief that Rich demolished the entire building If the structure was sound this would have been unnecessary time consuming and expensive especially as Cibber adds that Rich did it at his own expense It is far more likely that it was merely the interior that was rebuilt and Cibber s text has been misinterpreted 10 Supporting evidence for this comes from the first issue of the British Journal on 22 September 1722 which reported that a fresco of Betterton with other theatre figures of the period had been uncovered during redecoration of the theatre Rich also had no guarantee that he would receive a licence for the theatre and would have kept costs to a minimum As it turned out he was able to take advantage of the accession of George 1st in August 1714 to obtain the necessary permission Christopher Rich died in November 1714 but his son John Rich led a company at the theatre until 1728 On 29 January 1728 Rich s theatre hosted the first very successful production of John Gay s The Beggar s Opera making Rich gay and Gay rich The theatre was abandoned in December 1732 when the company moved to the new Covent Garden Theatre built by Rich using the capital generated by The Beggar s Opera 14 A few years later Henry Giffard moved his company from Goodman s Fields at a time when he was trying to establish a third major theatre company in London The Licensing Act 1737 largely dashed these hopes although he continued to stage plays at Lincoln s Inn for several more years The old building was subsequently used as a barracks an auction room a warehouse for china and was finally demolished in 1848 to make room for an extension to the neighbouring premises of the Royal College of Surgeons 15 16 Selected premieres at the theatre editThe Siege of Rhodes by William Davenant 1661 Love and Honour by William Davenant 1661 The Cutter of Coleman Street by Abraham Cowley 1661 The Law Against Lovers by William Davenant 1662 The Villain by Thomas Porter 1662 The Stepmother by Robert Stapylton 1663 The Adventures of Five Hours by Samuel Tuke 1663 The Slighted Maid by Robert Stapylton 1663 The Comical Revenge by George Etherege 1664 The Rivals by William Davenant 1664 Mustapha by Roger Boyle 1665 The English Princess by John Caryll 1667 She Would If She Could by George Etherege 1668 Tryphon by Roger Boyle 1668 The Sullen Lovers by Thomas Shadwell 1668 The Women s Conquest by Edward Howard 1670 Cambyses King Of Persia by Elkanah Settle 1671 The Six Days Adventure by Edward Howard 1671 Herod and Mariamne by Samuel Pordage 1671 The Town Shifts by Edward Revet 1671 Juliana by John Crowne 1671 The Assignation by John Dryden 1672 The Reformation by Joseph Arrowsmith 1673 Amboyna by John Dryden 1673 The Amorous Old Woman by Thomas Duffett 1674 Love for Love by William Congreve 1695 The Lover s Luck by Thomas Dilke 1695 Cyrus the Great by John Banks 1695 The She Gallants by George Granville 1695 The City Bride by Joseph Harris 1696 The Country Wake by Thomas Doggett 1696 The City Lady by Thomas Dilke 1696 The Deceiver Deceived by Mary Pix 1697 The Italian Husband by Edward Ravenscroft 1697 The Mourning Bride by William Congreve 1697 The Novelty by Peter Anthony Motteux 1697 The Provoked Wife by John Vanburgh 1697 The Innocent Mistress by Mary Pix 1697 The Pretenders by Thomas Dilke 1698 Beauty in Distress by Peter Motteux 1698 Rinaldo and Armida by John Dennis 1698 The False Friend by Mary Pix 1699 Friendship Improved by Charles Hopkins 1699 The Way of the World by William Congreve 1700 The Ambitious Stepmother by Nicholas Rowe 1700 The Fate of Capua by Thomas Southerne 1700 Antiochus the Great by Jane Wiseman 1701 Love s Victim by Charles Gildon 1701 The Czar of Muscovy by Mary Pix 1701 The Double Distress by Mary Pix 1701 The Ladies Visiting Day by William Burnaby 1701 Tamerlane by Nicholas Rowe 1701 The Beau s Duel by Susanna Centlivre 1702 The Governor of Cyprus by John Oldmixon 1702 The Stolen Heiress by Susanna Centlivre 1702 As You Find It by Charles Boyle 1703 The Fair Penitent by Nicholas Rowe 1703 Marry or Do Worse by William Walker 1703 The Different Widows by Mary Pix 1703 Love Betrayed by William Burnaby 1703 The Biter by Nicholas Rowe 1704 The Stage Coach by George Farquhar 1704 Love At First Sight by David Crauford 1704 Squire Trelooby by William Congreve and John Vanbrugh 1704 The Gamester by Susanna Centlivre 1705 A Woman s Revenge by Christopher Bullock 1715 The Perplexed Couple by Charles Molloy 1715 The Doating Lovers by Newburgh Hamilton 1715 A City Ramble by Charles Knipe 1715 The Northern Heiress by Mary Davys 1716 The Cobbler of Preston by Christopher Bullock 1716 Everybody Mistaken by William Taverner 1716 The Fatal Vision by Aaron Hill 1716 The Perfidious Brother by Lewis Theobald 1716 Woman Is a Riddle by Christopher Bullock 1716 The Artful Husband by William Taverner 1717 A Bold Stroke for a Wife by Susanna Centlivre 1718 The Coquet by Charles Molloy 1718 The Lady s Triumph by Lewis Theobald 1718 Scipio Africanus by Charles Beckingham 1718 The Traitor by Christopher Bullock 1718 Henry IV of France by Charles Beckingham 1719 Kensington Gardens by John Leigh 1719 Sir Walter Raleigh by George Sewell 1719 Tis Well if it Takes by William Taverner 1719 The Half Pay Officers by Charles Molloy 1720 Hob s Wedding by John Leigh 1720 The Imperial Captives by John Mottley 1720 Whig and Tory by Benjamin Griffin 1720 Antiochus by John Mottley 1721 The Fair Captive by Eliza Haywood 1721 Fatal Extravagance by Aaron Hill 1721 The Chimera by Thomas Odell 1721 Hanging and Marriage by Henry Carey 1722 Hibernia Freed by William Phillips 1722 The Compromise by John Sturmy 1722 Love and Duty by John Sturmy 1722 Mariamne by Elijah Fenton 1723 The Fatal Legacy by Jane Robe 1723 Belisarius by William Phillips 1724 Edwin by George Jeffreys 1724 The Roman Maid by Robert Hurst 1724 The Bath Unmasked by Gabriel Odingsells 1725 The Capricious Lovers by Gabriel Odingsells 1725 The Female Fortune Teller by Charles Johnson 1726 Money the Mistress by Thomas Southerne 1726 The Dissembled Wanton by Leonard Welsted 1726 Philip of Macedon by David Lewis 1727 The Fall of Saguntum by Philip Frowde 1727 The Beggar s Opera by John Gay 1728 Sesostris by John Sturmy 1728 The Virgin Queen by Richard Barford 1728 Frederick Duke of Brunswick Lunenburgh by Eliza Haywood 1729 Themistocles by Samuel Madden 1729 Sylvia by George Lillo 1730 The Wife of Bath by John Gay 1730 Orestes by Lewis Theobald 1731 Merope by George Jeffreys 1731 Philotas by Philip Frowde 1731 The Married Philosopher by John Kelly 1732 A Tutor for the Beaus by John Hewitt 1736 All Alive and Merry by Samuel Johnson 1736 The Independent Patriot by Francis Lynch 1737 Charles I by William Havard 1737 References edit Hartnoll Portions available online dead link Styan p 238 Pepys first records attending the Opera on its fourth day of opening to watch the second half of The Siege of Rhodes attended by King Charles II and his great aunt Elizabeth of Bohemia The Diary of Samuel Pepys Tuesday 2 July 1661 Milhous p 19 The Diary of Samuel Pepys Thursday 4 July 1661 Milhous p 19 Pepys records seeing Davenant s The Wits on Thursday 15 August 1661 1 and on two other occasions in the next 8 days 2 3 Hamlet Prince of Denmark on Saturday 24 August 1661 4 Twelfth Night on Wednesday 11 September 1661 5 and Davenant s Love and Honour three times in 4 days in October 6 7 8 The Bondman by Philip Massinger twice in November 9 10 The Siege of Rhodes 11 and Hamlet 12 one further time each and finishing the year with Cutter of Coleman Street by Abraham Cowley on Monday 16 December 1661 having passed his first negative review of The Mad Lover on Monday 2 December 1661 13 Langhans p 16 It was once believed that Cosimo III attended the Theatre Royal in Bridges Street not the theatre in Lincoln s Inn Fields Donohue p 7 Cibber Colley Apology for the life of London John C Nimmo 1889 vol 2 p 100 Jenkins Terry John Rich the man who built Covent Garden Theatre Bramber Barn End Press 2016 pp 16 20 Bibliography editAvery Emmett L and Arthur H Scouten The London Stage 1660 1700 A Critical Introduction Arcturus Books Southern Illinois University Press 1968 Print Donohue Joseph ed 2004 The Cambridge History of British Theatre Volume 2 1660 to 1885 Cambridge University Press Excerpt online Gaunt Peter Cromwellian Britain Lindsey House Lincoln s Inn Fields London The Oliver Cromwell Website The Cromwell Association n d Web 5 Feb 2013 lt http www olivercromwell org lindsey house htm gt Hartnoll Phyllis Found Peter 1996 Lincoln s Inn Fields Theatre The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre Oxford University Press Hotson Leslie The Commonwealth and Restoration Stage Cambridge Harvard University Press 1928 Print Langhans Edward 2001 The Post 1660 Theatres as Performance Spaces Owen Sue A Companion to Restoration Drama Oxford Blackwell Milhous Judith 1979 Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln s Inn Fields 1695 1708 Carbondale Illinois Southern Illinois University Press Spiers Rupert 2002 Indoor Tennis Courts from the Restoration Theatres site Retrieved 14 August 2006 Styan John 1996 The English Stage A History of Drama and Performance Cambridge University Press The Restoration Theater From Tennis Court to Playhouse 2004 Film Jan 2013 Wilson Edwin and Alvin Goldfarb Living Theatre History of Theatre 6th ed New York McGraw Hill Companies Inc 2012 Print Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Lisle 27s Tennis Court amp oldid 1184517394, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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