668 
PLAYHOUSE. 
tember, 1792, that theatre opened for the feafon; and, on 
account of the extenfive improvements which had been 
every-where made in it, might juftly claim to be called a 
new houfe. Having expended 25,0001. on the building, 
and confiderably enlarged his company, Mr. Harris re¬ 
quired a fmall advance in the prices of adiniffion ; name¬ 
ly, that the boxes Ihould be 6s. and the pit 3s. 6d. The 2s. 
gallery was raifed to the ceiling, and the is. gallery taken 
away; but the voice of the public forced the manager to re- 
ltore it. This playhoufe was burnt down in September 
1808, rebuilt with uncommon fpeed, fo as to be opened in 
September 1809. Then a farther advance of prices was de¬ 
manded, upon which enfued the O.P. row; as to all 
which, fee the article London, vol. xiii. p. 185,6, 216, 
530-533. 
The expenfes of the two large theatres in London are 
known to be enormous : they exceed 200I. a-night. 
The patentees of Drury-lane, in 1733, Hated their nightly 
expenfes at 49I. (Gent. Mag. vol. iii). In 1765, thofe of 
Drury-lane were lefs than 70I. a-night. The company 
then confided of about 160 performers, among whom were 
names of high celebrity. Garrick had a falary of 2I. 15s. 6d. 
a-night ; Yates and his wife, 3I. 6s. 8d. Palmer and wife, 
2I. King and Parfons, il. 6s. 8d. each ; Mrs. Cibber, 2I. 10s. 
Mrs. Pritchard, 2I. 6s. 8d. Mrs. Clive, il. 15s.'Mifs Pope, 
13s. 4-d. Signor Gueftinelli, chief finger, il. 3s. 4-d. Gri¬ 
maldi and wife, chief dancers, 10s. each. 
The expenfes at prefent we judge of chiefly by what 
the managers charge for the ufe of the houfe on a benefit- 
night. For fome time previous to the conclufion of the 
lali century, this charge had been 140I. Previous to the 
openingof Covent-garden theatre for thefeafon of 1800-1, 
the performers received an official notice from the treafu- 
rer, that in future the charge would be 160I. Within 
thefe few months (1824), the charge to Oxberry’s widow 
for a benefit at Drury-lane, was 210I. and thus it often 
happens that a benefit turns out no benefit at all. 
Greater public encouragement was certainly never 
bellowed on dramatic genius in all its departments, than 
in our days. Mr. Sheridan realized 3000I. by the file 
only of his altered play of Pizarro; and authors of fuc- 
cefsful pieces receive from the theatre, from 500I. to 250I. 
and of the purchafer of the copyright for publication, 
from 400I. to 100I. Each theatre employs as aflors, 
artifts, muficians, and mechanics, from 200 to 250 perfons, 
at falaries which vary from 30I. to 2I. a-week. A few 
favourite performers receive 50I. a-night as often as they 
perform, and thirty or forty performers belonging to 
each houfe, have benefit-nights, by which many of them 
net 5or6ool. Nor are the liberal profits derived from 
the London boards the foie reward of favourite perform¬ 
ers ; for during the fummer recefs, they make from 30I. 
to iool. per week by engagements at various provincial 
theatres, many of which vie in fize and fplendour with 
the metropolitan eftablilhments. 
The prefent theatres hold about 650I. each when full, 
and about 750I. when crowded. Taking the expenfes at 
200I. and the receipts at a mean of 400I. per night, the 
net profits of a feafon of 200 nights, can be little (bort of 
4o,oool. to the proprietors. Hence the reader will per¬ 
ceive, that, if dramatic genius were not refpedtable in 
the prefent day, it would not be for want of recompence; 
for the theatres in Goodman’s Fields and Old Drury, in 
which Garrick acquired his fame and fortune, did not 
hold above 200I. and could not therefore be expelled to 
net to the proprietors above io,oool. per annum. 
In the year 1817, Drury-lane for a (hort time lowered 
the rate of the boxes to 5s. pit 3s. The prices are now, 
at both hcufes, boxes 7s. pit 3s. 6d. 
The 26th of June, 1809, produced a theatrical concern 
on a new plan: the Lyceum Theatre was opened by per- 
miflion of the Lord Chamberlain, granted to Mr. Samuel 
James Arnold, for the novel purpofe of performing, du¬ 
ring the fummer feafons, Englifh Operas only; and it is 
believed, that the company has hitherto been tolerably 
fuccefsful. This neat little theatre has alfo been lately 
rebuilt; fo that now our playhoufes are all new eredtions 
Of all the branches of architecture, few (if any) have 
been efteemed more difficult or uncertain, than the con- 
ftrudtion of the interior part of a theatre. The architect, 
befides the general knowledge incidental to his own im¬ 
mediate proreffion, would require at lead a confiderable 
acquaintance with the principles of optics and acouftics 
to enfure his fuccefs; and unfortunately this talk has 
been too frequently committed to perfons who, although 
perhaps good architects and mechanics, were totally ig¬ 
norant of both thefe fciences. The latter fcience is Hill 
fo imperfeftly underftood, that great difficulty mud 
remain in this part of the bufinefs ; the optical part is 
not fo arduous, and a degree of theoretical knowledge, 
combined with attention to its practical application, 
will enable the architect who conftrudts the interior of 
a theatre to avoid defects too common in molt of thofe 
which have been hitherto executed. 
Forfyth, in his Italian Tour, thus criticifes the opera- 
houfe at Caferta : “The theatre is perhaps too fplendid 
for its own exhibitions. Its form is the ufual horfe-ffioe, 
encircled with grand alabafter columns: but columns of 
the Greek orders are generally too tnafly for feparating 
fuch pigeon-holes as playhoufe-boxes; their ffiafts in¬ 
commode the cooped fpeCtators, and their capitals ob- 
llruCt his view. Would not the Gothic enter more in¬ 
timately into the minute divifions of a modern theatre? 
The Gothic excels in little details, it loves little com¬ 
partments ; its long {lender (hafts are finely formed to 
part off the boxes, its flat arches to furmount them, its 
fan-tracery to face them ; and on the grander parts, fuch 
as the Itage-front, or the ffate-boxes, an artift might pile 
all the pinnacles and enrichments of an old cathedral 
throne. A theatre, however, is the only ItruCture to 
which I have never feen the Gothic applied.” 
The interior of a theatre is generally, and apparently 
with juftice, divided into two departments. That which 
is before the curtain, and which contains the audience 
or fpedtators; and that which is behind, and which ought 
to be fo conftrudted as to place the whole performance 
in the molt favourable point of view, and to afford the 
performers and artifts employed the greateft facilities of 
executing their refpedtive profeffional duties with corredt- 
nefs and effedt. 
The ltage of a theatre is of an oblong or redtangular 
form, and is conftrudted as an inclined plane, the back 
part being more elevated than the front. It is ufual to 
allow one inch of perpendicular afcent forevery 36 inches 
of length from the front to the back of the ltage. Thus 
the acute angle formed between the flooring or inclined 
plane, and a line drawn from the front to the back part, 
and parallel to the horizon, will be i° 24' 29''. This in¬ 
clination is confidered to be of advantage to the vifion- 
lines fuppofed to come from the eye of a fpedtatorin the 
front of the houfe to any given point in the ltage : it par¬ 
ticularly places it in the power of the archiredt to keep 
the back part of the pit lower than could be done with¬ 
out injuring the vifion, were the flooring of the ltage ho¬ 
rizontal. This mull be a confiderable objedt, efpecially 
in large theatres, where there are many tiers or rows of 
boxes, and where the galleries mult of neceffity be con- 
ftrudted at a great altitude above the level of the front of 
the ltage. As it is alfo found, that cloth of every de- 
fcription (efpecially woollen) has a confiderable effedt in 
diminilhing the tranfmiffion of found, it is confidered 
proper to keep the whole audience in the pit as low as 
poflible without impeding the vifion, that their clothes 
may produce lefs of this effedt upon the founds which 
iffue from the ltage and the orcheltra. A greater decli¬ 
vity might perhaps be of ufe in this refpedt; but here 
the architedt mult limit himfelf to fo much as will 
not prove injurious to the adtion of the performers upon 
the ltage, efpecially the dancers. 
The ltage of a theatre, like other wooden floors, conlifts 
of 
