Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-11-07
strolling Theatric Companies.


In the days of Shakespeare youths were
regularly apprenticed or artic1ed to famous
actors, rs they would have been to any other
calling, and were practically instructed by
their masters belonged. This custom seems
to have died out with the suppression of the
theatres under the Commonwealth, for we
hear nothing of it at the revival of the
drama upon the accession of Charles ii.
Strolling companies which, however, had ex-
listed long before the Shakespsarian era, now
became the sole nursery for histronic aspi-
rants during the eighteenth century all the
great cities and country towns established
theatres of their own these supplemented
the barns and public house rooms of the
purely bucolic districts, and became the col
leges as the others were the elementary
schools, in which the actor became sufficient |
ly proficient in his art to take honors in
those great universities of the drama-Drury
Lane and Covent Garden.
Only the most enthusiastic love of their
profession could possibly have sustained the
ne ,phytes in the misery, slavery and hard
ships they had to go through before their
abilities could attain any recognition. In
those days the stage struck youth or maiden
could not, by the aid of friendly introduce
ton and few lessons from some well-known
actor, obtain an appearance upon the Lon
don stage, and disgust critical audience
with inane lispings and raw attempts
Neither Garrick, nor Rich, nor the kembles
would have dreamed of putting such an in
suit upon their patrons. No, the young gem
tleman or lady, be they who they might,
would have had to rough it as their great
prototypes had done before them. What
roughing it meant may be gathered from the
theatrical memoirs of the last and the pres
Clarke Cooley Cibber's daughter), Lee
Lewes Riley's Itinerant, and many others.
Besides the fear of starvation, there was the
fear of the law, which sometimes drove the
poor wretches out of the town as if they had
| been lepers, and sometimes consi zned them
| to q prison as Migrants. Their poverty was
| something appalling; twenty shillings would
| be regarded as good nights takings, and
yet when all charges were paid the company
= seldom got more than would pay for stock
supper; sometimes they could not obtain
even that shirt and pair of stockings
between two, which had to be shifted as each
was required upon the stage, was common
condition and clothes had frequently to be
| borrowed from good natured patrons before
the ladies and gentlemen could appear for
| their dedication. Romeo would give forth
| his impassioned utterances standing in a
| muddy pool formed by the rain dripping
| through the broken roof of the barn, and ii
| the ground happened to be of stiff clay, he
| sometimes found it impossible to extricate
| his foot without leaving his shoe behind,
while Juliet babbled of nightingales and pom
egranate trees with chatterlng teeth ana nose
rasped by the piercing December blast.
The promotion from this to the small cir
Quits, even though the pay of the leading ao-
tor seldom exceeded one guinea .per week,
must have seemed like translation to Para
disc The manager leased some half dozen
theatres, more or less, and in passing from
one to the other continued to keep his com
pany employed throughout the year the
| same pieces, all sterling comedies and TRACE
| dies with at later date a few melodramas,
were repeated over and over again this was
| a great advantage to the actor, since, should
he ever attain the dream of his ambition, an
| appearance at the great London theatres, he
| would be able to select one of his best-stud
led parts for his debut. In these towns ole
favorites were greatly respected and theii
| arrival and return were looked forward to by
the country gentry, who seldom neve,
| made Journey to the metropolis, as among
the great events of the year. Then ther'
| was the benefit in each town, which swellst
the actors small stipend to respectable di
| mensions. There was a considerable deal o
} humiliation attached to this CUSTOM at leas
we should think nowadays, for goot
house was only to be obtained by much per
sonal solicitation. The wives usually per
formed this duty, sometimes with string o
l children to emphasize their appeal, and no
only had the gentry to be solicited in thi
fashion, but the play going butcher ant
baker as well. And on the night of the per
I | Torrance the actor and his wife and his littl
8 ones had to be present and courtesy thei
grateful thanks to their kind patrons. s.
= imperative was this custom that on one @
: these occasions be1eefcSGi1e actually carrie
his wife upon his back before the curtain, q
9 she was too ill to walk.