In the latter half of the 18th century the theatre presented a wide variety of productions. There were patriotic plays and pageants such as "A Fig for the French", which was produced to boost national morale after a heavy British defeat in a sea battle off Grenada at the hands of the French and Spanish fleets. A stirring spectacle reflecting the Fall of the Bastille won from the previously hostile "Public Advertiser" newspaper the enthusiastic review: "...finer scenes of greater effect have not been produced at any Theatre for many years".