Event Comment: Benefit for Suett. On this and every Evening for the Remainder of the Season the Doors will not be opened till 5:30, and the Performance will commence exactly at 6:30. 1st piece: From [The Devil upon Two Sticks, by] Foote. Gazetteer, 28 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Suett, No. 21, King-street, Bloomsbury-square. Receipts: #232 19s. 6d. (62.12.0; 19.18.6; 1.14.0; tickets: 148.15.0) (charge: #107 6s. 4d.)

Event Comment: The Battle of Hexham [advertised on playbill of 24 June] is obliged to be deferred till Monday next on account of the Insidposition of Edwin

Event Comment: Ladies and Gentlemen who have Places for the succeeding Nights, will please to observe, the New Opera will be performed every Night till further Notice. Receipts: #285 11s. 6d. (281.3.6; 4.8.0)

Event Comment: [The playbill retains Sga Calvesi, but Morning Post, 14 Apr., prints a letter from her dated 13 Apr., stating that "she returns her most grateful thanks to the Subscribers and the Public for their indulgence in dispensing with her performance yesterday evening. She was one of the many unfortunate performers who were left unpaid in the year of 1783 by Mr Taylor. Deprived of resources, she naturally contracted debts, for one of which (yesterday evening going to obey her duty to the Public) she was arrested, and so expeditiously and secretly hurried away as to deprive her of the assistance of the Manager or her Friends to liberate her 'till an hour too late for Performance." The name of the singer who took her place is not known.

Event Comment: [As afterpiece the playbill announces High Life below Stairs, but "A Disturbance of some length took place on Monday night at Drury-lane Theatre, occasioned by the substitution of The Deaf Lover for High Life below Stairs; and the confusion was augmented by the unadvised introduction of some soldiers into the galleries. The audience properly insisted on their removal, which being complied with, the tumult subsided" (Morning Post, 27 Apr.).] On this and every Evening for the remainder of the Season, the Doors will not be opened till 5:30, and the performance will commence exactly at 6:30. Receipts: #188 6s. (159.6; 27.8; 1.12)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: 32nd Night [i.e. in continuation, erroneously, of the reckoning for the preceding season, when it was acted 28 times]. With new Music, Scenes, Dresses, and Decorations. The Music (with a few Exceptions) composed entirely new by Shield. And new Scenery designed and chiefly executed by Richards. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. "Covent-garden is the National Theatre. I was there on 10th Dec. and saw an opera called The Woodman. It was the very day on which the life story of Madam Billington, both from the good as well as from the bad sides was announced [i.e. Memoirs of Mrs Billington, and An Answer to the Memoirs of Mrs Billington, both anonymous, both predated 1792]...She sang rather timidly this evening, but very well all the same. The first tenor [Incledon] has a good voice and quite a good style, but he uses the falsetto to excess. He sang a trill on high C and ran up to G. The 2nd tenor [Johnstone] tries to imitate him, but could not make the change from the falsetto to the natural voice, and apart from that is most unmusical...But the cast is entirely used to him. The leader is Herr Baumgartner [sic], a German who, however, has almost forgotten his mother-tongue. The Theatre is very dark and dirty, and is almost as large as the Vienna Court Theatre. The common people in the galleries of all the theatres are very impertinent; they set the fashion with all their unrestrained impetuosity, and whether something is repeated or not is determined by their yells. The parterre and all the boxes sometimes have to applaud a great deal to have something good repeated. That was just what happened this evening, with the Duet in the 3rd Act, which was very beautiful; and the pro's and contra's went on for nearly a quarter of an hour, till finally the parterre and the boxes won, and they repeated the Duet. Both the performers stood on the stage quite terrified, first retiring, then again coming forward. The orchestra is sleepy" (Haydn, 273-74). Receipts: #194 11s. (191.8; 3.3)

Event Comment: The Subscribers to the Opera are respectfully acquainted that, on account of the preparations for La Discordia Conjugale, there will be no Opera till Saturday next, the 14th, when the above Opera will be performed

Event Comment: Mainpiece: Not acted these 3 years. With new Dresses and Decorations. The Characters dressed in the Habits of the Times. [Palmer Jun. was from the hay.] "It is necessary to remind both Macbeth and his Lady that there is a measured declamation, of which the natural utterance of passion knows nothing, and that words and syllables may be divided and subdivided till the fatigue of the ear overcome every other feeling...Between the first and second acts Ca ira was loudly called for from the pit and gallery. The clamour, after preventing the first part of the second act from being heard, subsided as unaccountably as it rose. The performers, in compliance with an admonition from the pit, began the act again, and proceeded without further interruption" (Morning Chronicle, 20 Feb.). "In Macbeth there was too much that was not Shakespeare, too much bad taste and shabbiness in the costumes of the witches, and all in all too much claptrap. He found it insufferable that Banquo should take the part of his own ghost and felt that the audience should behold the specter only in Macbeth's terror, as was the case with the banquet guests. 'Mr Kemble has desired on several occasions to suppress the ghost,' Meister says, 'but has never had the courage to do so.'" (J. H. Meister quoted in J. A. Kelly, 134). For Kemble's eventual courage in this matter see dl, 21 Apr. 1794.] Receipts: #425 6s. (383.2; 40.4; 2.0)

Event Comment: Account-Book: Present Their Majesties. [Their attendance this night is not indicated on the playbill, but "Though the Royal Command was not communicated to this Theatre till late yesterday morning, and consequently but a small part of the public could have notice of the public could have notice of the intention of Their Majesties to honour the house with their presence, yet it was crouded in all parts" (Morning Herald, 16 Mar.).] Receipts: #347 12s. (344.3.6; 3.8.6)

Event Comment: On account of the sudden indisposition of Sga Casentini La Discordia Conjugale [advertised in Morning Chronicle, 26 Mar.] must be postponed till further notice [see 31 Mar.]

Event Comment: Macbeth [advertised on playbill of 19 Oct.] on account of the indisposition of a principal Performer is obliged to be deferr'd till Monday next. Mainpiece: Masquerade as 8 Oct. Receipts: #364 14s. 6d