"The stage of Covent Garden Theatre is seen from the right with a small part of the pit in the left foreground; the boxes and galleries adjoining the stage form the background on the left. The pittites are standing and blow trumpets, spring rattles, ring bells, and shout. Those in the crowded boxes behave in the same way; with one exception all are men. Two men occupy each of the two boxes over the stage-door; they watch passively. The musicians' seats are empty, but candles burn beside their open music-books, and one of the orchestra stands facing the audience, threatening them with fist and baton. On the stage three men stand together addressing the audience. The man in the centre holds out a paper: 'Riot Act'; he says: "We shall Read the riot act". Behind them stands Kemble wearing a tail-coat and white trousers, appealing to the audience with his hands meekly together as if in prayer. Large notices and placards hang from the galleries and boxes: 'Old Prices' [five times]; 'Harris will but Kemble won,t'; 'No Kembles No more insults'; 'Kemble remember the Dublin Tin Man'; 'No Foreign Sofas'; 'Iohn Bull against Iohn Kemble'; 'No Catalani'; 'Old Prices' [three times]; 'No Italian Private Boxes'; '£6000 for Caterwauling'; 'Catalani', below a print of a cat dressed as a woman, and singing 'Me Yo' from a music-book; 'No Catalani!! Mountain-- Billington, and Dickons for ever'; 'Ol Price for ever No caterwauling'; 'Old Prices No Catalani'; a gigantic placard: 'Statement-- £ Subscribed -- £80-000 Fire Office -- 50-000 Old Materials -- 25-000 155-000 New Theatre ---- 150-000 Managers of it ---- 5-000' Held up by a 'John Bull' in the pit who blows a trumpet: 'No Catalani No Pigeon Holes Old Prices No Private Boxes'. A man shouts from a box: "Off Off Off Off"; he springs a rattle."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Isaac and George Cruikshank in the British Museum catalogue., Date of publication from British Museum catalogue., and Matted to 47 x 54 cm, with a token for a box seat, Prince's side (BPS), New Theatre Covent Garden 1809.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Geographic):
England and London.
Subject (Name):
Kemble, John Philip, 1757-1823., Nares, John, 1754-1816., Billington, Elizabeth, 1765-1818., Catalani, Angelica, 1780-1849., Dickons, Maria, approximately 1774-1833., Harris, Thomas, -1820., Reed, James, active 1808., Mountain, Rosoman, approximately 1768-1841., and Covent Garden Theatre,
Subject (Topic):
Interiors, Stages (Platforms), Actors, Orchestras, Theater audiences, Theaters, and 1809
"Kean, in the costume of Sir Giles Overreach, stands on the stage, indicated by a boarded floor surrounded by flame and smoke from the jaws of a semicircle of ferocious monsters, serpentine, scaly, and fanged, and with glaring eyeballs. The largest and most menacing is the Old Times, emitting Gall, Spite Venon [sic] Hypocricy. Towards this Kean directs his levelled rapier, saying, By the powers of Shakspeare, I defy ye all. He holds above his head a large open book: Shakspeare, which is irradiated. Almost as large as the 'Times' is the pendant to it: New Times, vomiting Hypocricy. The other monsters are not specified, they spit flames inscribed respectively: Spleen; Cant; Malignity; Slander; Spite; Envy; Malice; Nonsence; Oblique."--British Museum catalogue and A comment on the backlash in the press regarding the Cox vs. Kean trial, in which Kean was accused of adultery with Robert Albion Cox's wife, Charlotte Cox. Kean gave a speech at Drury Lane, Jan. 28 1825, in which he offered himself up to the audience: "If it [the backlash] is done by a hostile Press, I shall endeavour to withstand it -- if it is your verdict, I shall bow to your decision, remember with gratitude your former favours, and leave you" (quotation from the British Museum catalogue).
Alternative Title:
Shakspeare in danger and Shakespeare in danger
Description:
Title etched below image., George Cruikshank might have collaborated with Robert Cruikshank in the production of this print; see British Museum catalogue., Quoted text following title: "Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow - thou shalt not escape calumny" - Hamlet., and Matted to 37 x 49 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 1825 by J. Fairburn, Broadway, Ludgate Hill
Subject (Name):
Kean, Edmund, 1787-1833,, Kean, Edmund, 1787-1833, and Kean, Edmund, 1787-1833.
Subject (Topic):
Performances, Actors, British, Stages (Platforms), and Monsters
"No. 77. Two hustings, receding in perspective, are divided by the heads and shoulders of an election crowd forming the base of the design. The candidates face each other; one (left), whose dress and physique suggest a strong man at a fair, is introduced by a fashionably dressed man: 'The honle Gentleman opposite has certainly a most extraordinary chin and when he places his claims to your suffrages upon that broad and ample basis, it must be Granted that he rests his hope upon some foundation; but Gentlemen the Candidate whom I propose to you possesses such transcendent superiority in this important feature that I feel Boaied up with confidence ... [etc.] in the event of his return which I now consider certain (cheers) few orators in the hon: House will command more attention or be listened to with so much pleasure!' The crowd, who have a placard: 'Musical Wonder Michel Boai', cheer: 'Hurra Hurra'. All face this candidate, who holds his fists against his chin, neglecting Sir Alexander Grant, who stands, hat in hand, pointing to his own heavy chin and bullet-shaped head. Behind the latter are two anxious supporters, one the Duke of Wellington."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from text below image., Print signed with the monogram "HB," which was used by John Doyle., Lacking the usual series title "HB Sketches" and numbering in upper right, but number 77 in that series according to the British Museum catalogue., and Number "77" added in brown ink in upper right.
Publisher:
Published by Thos. McLean, 26, Haymarket and Printed by C. Motte, 23 Leicester Sqe
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Grant, Alexander Cray, 1782-1854, Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, and Boai, Michel, active 1830s.
Subject (Topic):
Politicians, Political elections, Stages (Platforms), and Spectators
