Event Comment: Mainpiece: In three acts altered from
Shakespeare. Afterpiece, a New Pastoral Masque and Pantomime interspersed.
The Music composed by
Fisher.
The scenes painted by Messrs
Dahl,
Richards and
Carver. Nothing under Full Prices will be taken. Books of Songs, &c. sold in
Theatre.
The words of
the Masque taken chiefly from
Ben Johnson (playbill). [
DNB s.v. "Jonson," suggests
The Haddington Masque, 1608, with
the "Hue and Cry after Cupid" material as
the source.
The reviewer for
the Westminster Magazine commented on
the performance of 25 November, after outlining
the story: "Such are
the outlines of
The Druids, whick is a hetereogeneous jumble of monstrous absurdities; and if considered merely as a vehicle for music, dances, and decorations, is, in our opinion, far inferior to
the dramatic monstrum horrendum of
the o
ther House [
The Maid of the Oaks]. Both pieces, however, are equally an insult on
the understanding and judgments of
the Public, and exhibit striking proofs of
the miserably depraved state of
the English theatre, whose entertainments are at present conducted by Managers ei
ther destitute of taste and abilities or actuated by no o
ther than
the paltry, despicable motives of vanity, prejudice, and avarice,"]