Accommodations for Pregnancy and Childbirth on the Late Eighteenth-Century London Stage

Abstract

Drawing on close examination of surviving financial, biographical, and repertory records, this article demonstrates the existence of a number of accommodations for childbearing women at Covent Garden and Drury Lane between 1768 and 1800, including paid leave policies and repertory changes. It dispels assumptions about working women and pregnancy, proves that the late eighteenth-century theatre had a more generous paid family leave policy than most U.S. citizens enjoy today, and positions the embodied realities of women's experiences as a major factor in theatrical management throughout the eighteenth century.