It’s been pointed out to me that I don’t read enough fiction nowadays. This is a fair point: a lot of recent work has been on acting manuals, editorial debates, press cuttings, pamphlets and so on. To remedy this, but also t improve my understanding of the eighteenth-century theatre, I decided to read more plays from the period. I started by rereading some Sheridan (post forthcoming), but soon decided on something more structured: to read all the plays put on in London in one theatre season.

I chose the 1753-4 season for this purpose. Not only were performances at this time helping John Hill to illustrate his new edition of The Actor, this season was also, to quote the editor of The London Stage, “one of the most ‘regular’ on record”. On top of this, 1753-4 also records the largest staff and the longest series of acting nights for Garrick since he had taken over the management of Drury Lane (in 1747), and contains the first performances of seven new plays there: Richard Glover’s Boadicia, Henry Crisp’s Virginia, William Whitehead’s Creusa Queen of Athens, Samuel Foote’s The Englishman in Paris, Henry Woodward’s Fortunatus, Theobald Cibber’s The Humorists and Catherine Clive’s The London Prentice. In contrast to this, Garrick’s rival manager, John Rich, only staged two new tragedies at Covent Garden: MacNamara Morgan’s Philoclea and Philip Francis’s Constantine.

I began with the intention of making a checklist of all the plays performed in the 1753-4 season. There were, however, too many, so I present here instead a list and a table, which all cover September and October 1753.

First, the list of plays I will be reading, in order:

1. The Beggar’s Opera
2. The Lying Valet
3. The Provok’d Husband
4. The Lover his own Rival
5. The Miser
6. The Anatomist
7. The Mock Doctor
8. As You Like It
9. The Chaplet
10. The Suspicious Husband
11. The Contrivances
12. The Non-Juror
13. The Devil to Pay
14. Damon and Phillida
15. The Revenge
16. The Tragical History of Richard III
17. The Careless Husband
18. The Provok’d Wife
19. The Busy Body
20. The Shepherd’s Lottery
21. The Funeral
22. The What d’ye Call It
23. Richard III
24. Scapin
25. She Wou’d and She Wou’d Not
26. Much Ado about Nothing
27. The Committee
28. The Stratagem
29. The Double Gallant
30. The Orphan
31. The Way of the World
32. The King and the Miller of Mansfield
33. Macbeth
34. The Intriguing Chambermaid
35. Romeo and Juliet
36. Harlequin Sorcerer
37. The Old Batchelor
38. King Henry VIII
39. The Funeral
40. The Recruiting Officer
41. Harlequin Ranger
42. Oroonoko
43. The Conscious Lovers
44. The Country Lasses
45. The Suspicious Husband
46. A Duke and No Duke
47. Othello, the Moor of Venice
48. Hamlet
49. The Lottery
50. Queen Mab
51. The Englishman in Paris
52. Merope
53. Lethe
54. Venice Preserv’d
55. The Fair Penitent

Second, a table to show what was performed where during September and October 1753-4. Also included are a few plays put on at Southwark Fair.

Date	Theatre	Main Piece	Afterpiece
September 1753
Saturday 8th	Drury Lane (DL)	The Beggar’s Opera	The Lying Valet
Monday 10th	Covent Garden (CG)	The Provok’d Husband	The Lover his own Rival
Tuesday 11th	DL	The Miser	The Anatomist
Wednesday 12th	CG	The Beggar’s Opera	The Mock Doctor
Thursday 13th	DL	As You Like It	The Chaplet
Friday 14th	CG	The Suspicious Husband	The Contrivances
Saturday 15th	DL	The Non-Juror	The Devil to Pay
Monday 17th	CG	The Miser	Damon and Phillida
Tuesday 18th	DL	The Revenge	The Lying Valet
Tuesday 18th	Southwark Fair (SF)	The Royal Slave	The Witch of Endor
Tuesday 18th	SF	The Sham Physician	The Distress’d Sailor
Wednesday 19th	CG	The Miser	The Contrivances
Wednesday 19th	SF	The Sham Physician	The Distress’d Sailor
Thursday 20th	DL	The Careless Husband	The Chaplet
Thursday 20th	SF	The Royal Slave	The Witch of Endor
Thursday 20th	SF	The Sham Physician	The Distress’d Sailor
Friday 21st	CG	The Tragical History of Richard III	The Lover his own Rival
Friday 21st	SF	The Sham Physician	The Distress’d Sailor
Saturday 22nd	DL	The Busy Body	The Shepherd’s Lottery
Saturday 22nd	SF	The Royal Slave	The Witch of Endor
Monday 24th	CG	The Provok’d Wife	The Devil to Pay
Monday 24th	SF	The Royal Slave	The Witch of Endor
Tuesday 25th	DL	King Richard III	Scapin
Wednesday 26th	CG	The Funeral	The What d’ye Call It
Thursday 27th	DL	Much Ado About Nothing	The Anatomist
Thursday 27th	SF	King Richard III	The Old Witch of Endor or, Harlequin Turn’d Beau
Friday 28th	CG	The Funeral	The Contrivances
Saturday 29th	DL	The Stratagem	Scapin
October 1753
Monday 1st	CG	She Wou’d and She Wou’d Not	The Lover his own Rival
Tuesday 2nd	DL	The Orphan	The Chaplet
Wednesday 3rd	DL	Macbeth	The Intriguing Chambermaid
Wednesday 3rd	CG	The Committee	The What d’ye Call It
Thursday 4th	DL	Romeo and Juliet	The Lying Valet
Friday 5th	DL	Romeo and Juliet	The Shepherd’s Lottery
Friday 5th	CG	The Double Gallant	The King and Miller of Mansfield
Saturday 6th	DL	King Henry VIII	Scapin
Monday 8th	CG	The Way of the World	The King and the Miller of Mansfield
Tuesday 9th	DL	The Recruiting Officer	Harlequin Ranger
Wednesday 10th	DL	Oroonoko	Harlequin Ranger
Wednesday 10th	CG	Romeo and Juliet
Thursday 11th	DL	King Henry VIII	The Chaplet
Thursday 11th	CG	Romeo and Juliet
Friday 12th	DL	The Conscious Lovers	Harlequin Ranger
Friday 12th	CG	Romeo and Juliet
Saturday 13th	DL	The Suspicious Husband	A Duke and no Duke
Saturday 13th	CG	Romeo and Juliet
Monday 15th	DL	The Orphan	Harlequin Ranger
Monday 15th	CG	Romeo and Juliet
Tuesday 16th	DL	Hamlet	The Anatomist
Tuesday 16th	CG	The Miser	Harlequin Sorcerer
Wednesday 17th	DL	The Careless Husband	Queen Mab
Wednesday 17th	CG	The Old Batchelor	Harlequin Sorcerer
Thursday 18th	DL	The Way of the World	Queen Mab
Thursday 18th	CG	Romeo and Juliet
Friday 19th	DL	Romeo and Juliet	Queen Mab
Friday 19th	CG	The Funeral	Harlequin Sorcerer
Saturday 20th	DL	The Provok’d Husband	The Englishman in Paris
Saturday 20th	CG	Beggar’s Opera	The King and the Miller of Mansfield
Monday 22nd	DL	The Revenge	The Englishman in Paris
Monday 22nd	CG	As You Like It	Harlequin Sorcerer
Tuesday 23rd	DL	Merope	Lethe
Tuesday 23rd	CG	Romeo and Juliet
Wednesday 24th	DL	The Old Batchelor	The Englishman in Paris
Wednesday 24th	CG	The Country Lasses	Harlequin Sorcerer
Thursday 25th	DL	Venice Preserv’d	The Devil to Pay
Thursday 25th	CG	Romeo and Juliet
Friday 26th	DL	King Richard III	Queen Mab
Friday 26th	CG	The Provok’d Wife	Harlequin Sorcerer
Saturday 27th	DL	The Old Batchelor	The Englishman in Paris
Saturday 27th	CG	Othello the Moor of Venice	Harlequin Sorcerer
Monday 29th	DL	Venice Preserv’d	The Lottery
Monday 29th	CG	The Committee	Harlequin Sorcerer
Tuesday 30th	DL	The Old Batchelor	The Englishman in Paris
Tuesday 30th	CG	Hamlet	The Lottery
Wednesday 31st	DL	The Fair Penitent	The Rehearsal
Wednesday 31st	CG	The Recruiting Officer	Harlequin Sorcerer