Event Comment: Christopher Rich's Company. The date of the resumption of
playing is not certain, for Cibber (see below) beclouds the issue by referring to
Easter-Monday in April, whereas the first Monday following
Easter fell on 25 March 1694@5. Nevertheless, Monday 1 April 1695 seems the likely date of the resumption of
playing, with
Rich's Company ready to perform before the seceding company under
Thomas Betterton was fully organized. A new song for
Abdelazar,
Lucinda is bewitching fair, the music by
Henry Purcell and sung by "
the Boy" (
Jemmy? Bowen), is in
Thesaurus Musicus, The Fourth Book, 1695.
Cibber, Apology, I, 195: [The Patentees] were not able to take the Field till the
Easter-Monday in April following. Their first Attempt was a reviv'd
Play call'd
Abdelazar, or the Moor's Revenge, poorly written, by
Mrs Behn. The House was very full, but whether it was the
Play or the Actors that were not approved, the next Day's Audience sunk to nothing. However, we assured that let the Audiences be never so low, our Masters would make good all Deficiencies, and so indeed they did, till towards the End of the Season, when Dues to Ballance came too think upon 'em. [See I, 195-96, for Cibber's account of his
Prologue.]
A Comparison Between the Two Stages, 1702, p. 7: But in my Opinion, 'twas strange that the general defection of the old Actors which left Drury-lane, and the fondness which the better sort shew'd for 'em at the opening of their Newhouse, and indeed the Novelty it self, had not quite destroy'd those few young ones that remain'd behind. The disproportion was so great at parting, that 'twas almost impossible, in
Drury-lane, to muster up a sufficient number to take in all the
Parts of any
Play; and of them so few were tolerable, that a
Play must of necessity be damn'd that had not extraordinary favour from the Audience: No fewer than Sixteen (most of the old standing) went away; and with them the very beauty and vigour of the Stage; they who were left behind being for the most part Learners, Boys and Girls, a very unequal match for them who revolted. According to a statement made in litigation, the company in
Drury Lane acted 84 times between 25 March 1694@5 and 7 July 1695; and the Young Actors
played 68 times from 6 July 1695 to 10 Oct. 1695 to 10 Oct. 1695. See
Hotson,
Commonwealth and Restoration Stage, p. 308