The Economics of the British Stage, 1800-1914 (review)

Abstract

For centuries the theatre has been on the brink of bankruptcy. The repeated refinancing, management changes, and intermittent closure of the patent theatres during the long eighteenth century is well known to all theatre historians. But how did the theatre evolve in the free market economy of nineteenth-century Britain? How did it become one of the most respected, indeed, necessary institutions of modern Britain? Until now we have had few studies of the business of live theatre. Tracy C. Davis makes brilliant use of important archival sources, drawn from London and Glasgow. Her book vividly documents the complicated task of financing and managing a large theatre. As such, it is both definitive— all theatre historians will need this book—and also an invitation to further local studies. Davis is well aware of how fragmentary her documentation is, however strong on major urban centers; she ruefully notes the absence of all archives for English theatre in Wales, as well as the erratic survival of records for every theatre, including the royal patent theatres.