A Trip To The Theatre

In Jane Austen's day, actors like Edmund Kean and the tragedienne Sarah Siddons brought audiences flocking to the theatres. Kean’s acting was so emotive and overpowering that women (including his fellow actresses) fainted during his performances.  Jane Austen often visited Covent Garden and other theatres when staying in London; she saw The Hypocrite at the Lyceum (which was lit by gas) in April 1811, and was 'well entertained' by the performance. Jane was disappointed, however, as she had hoped to see Mrs Siddons in Constance, but missed her owing to a mix-up: 'I could swear at her with little effort for disappointing me', she confided to Cassandra. But she had better luck with Kean, who she saw in 1814. ‘I cannot imagine better acting’, Jane wrote to her sister. 

Although all classes of society visited the theatre, only members of the nobility could afford a regular box at the Opera House, which cost a hefty 200 guineas annually. Other famous venues in the capital included Drury Lane Theatre, Covent Garden, the Haymarket, and Sadler’s Wells.

 

Images:

New Theatre Royal, Bath. © Sue Wilkes. The theatre opened in 1805, when Jane Austen was living in the city.

 Edmund Kean as Sir Giles Overreach in A New Way to Pay Old Debts. Pocket Book, c.1833. Author's collection.

Sarah Siddons. Engraving by Theodor Kensing from the portrait by Thomas Gainsborough. English Illustrated Magazine 1883-1884, Macmillan & Co., 1884. Author's collection.

The Old House, Lydbrook, Gloucestershire (left), reputed to be the home of Sarah Siddons. © Sue Wilkes.

Drury Lane Theatre, London, as it appeared in 1775 (above right). Author's collection.

Writers' Blog Tour

Recently it was my turn to host the Writers' Blog Tour, and you can read my blog post - and an introduction to some wonderful authors - here on my Sue Wilkes blog.

Jane Austen's Sailor Brothers

This year we remember the outbreak of the First World War, and the sacrifices made by previous generations.  But to Jane Austen’s contemporaries, the 'great war' was the seemingly endless conflict with France (punctuated by battles with America).  The country’s defence brought opportunities for patriotic young men; the navy was a popular career for younger sons of the middle classes. 

Lads began training either at sea as an apprentice under a captain’s patronage, or at the Royal Naval Academy, Portsmouth.  Jane Austen’s sailor brothers Francis (1774–1865) and Charles (1779–1852) trained at Portsmouth.  Jane and her sister Cassandra wrote to their sailor brothers while they were away at sea, and swapped news of their whereabouts and engagements with the enemy. Like Persuasion’s Anne Elliot, they had to 'pay the tax of quick alarm for belonging to that profession’.

Frank was bitterly disappointed when he and his ship Canopus missed the thrilling battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and he wrote to his sweetheart Mary Gibson (27 October): ‘To lose all share in the glory of a day which surpasses all that ever went before is what I cannot think of with any degree of patience’. But the following year, the Canopus took part in Sir John Duckworth’s victory over the French at St Domingo - some consolation for Frank.

You can find out more about Jane Austen's 'great war' in my latest feature for the May/June issue of Jane Austen's Regency World.

Images: 

Above, left: Gymnastics: The Climbing Stand. Used to help train boys for the navy. Mirror of Literature, Amusement, And Instruction, 20 May 1826. Author’s collection.

Defeat of the French fleet (above, right) by Sir John Duckworth off St Domingo. Frank Austen took part in the action.  Cassell’s Illustrated History of England Vol. VI, (Cassell, Petter and Galpin, c.1864). Author’s collection.

HMS Victory at Portsmouth (left). Heroes of the British Navy, Frederick Warne & Co., c. 1900. Nigel Wilkes Collection.