Star Shakespearean actor puts Birmingham on the theatre map

Birmingham’s Theatre Royal opened in 1807 – a sign of great prestige and testament to the growth and importance of England’s emerging 'second city'.

This playbill from the British Library collection shows how the stars of the London Theatre stage were also coming out of the capital to play in Birmingham.

This particular posting bears the name of one of the great Shakespearean actors of the time in the part of Hamlet – Edmund Kean… the Benedict Cumberbatch of his day.

The Theatre Royal, Birmingham (Credit: The British Library)

Or does it? Because the playbill does not carry a year for the date, so there is a mystery to solve here. Is this Edmund Kean, the most famous actor of his time – and a major coup for Birmingham’s Theatre Royal – or is it in fact his lesser-known son Charles, who also acted in theatres outside London? The playbills from Birmingham span a period from about the 1790's to the Victorian era and chart a growing desire for audiences to see the big stars coming out of London.

They also record the development of the city during the industrial revolution, to a size where it could support a big theatre such as this.

The Theatre Royal put the city on the map as a theatre going destination alongside Stratford-upon-Avon, which in itself was growing in popularity.

The playbills also show there was a desire to celebrate Shakespeare as a dramatist, and across a wide body of his work. All the London stars are seen to come to Birmingham, including Sara Siddons, brother John Kemble, Kean and many more.

During the 18th century, as places like Birmingham began to grow larger, they began to desire a permanent playhouse.

But since the 1737 Licensing Act, theatre in general was highly regulated, and only Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres in London were awarded special patents - making these two venues the only places in the whole country where Shakespeare could be legally performed.

Most towns were served by travelling groups of players who would perform in town halls, barns or inns – with local magistrates effectively turning a blind eye.

Then from 1768 onwards, we start to see provincial towns being issued their own respective patents through an act of parliament – allowing them to establish a Theatre Royal of their own.

Earning a patent was a sign of prestige, and granted the same rights as those which had been enjoyed by Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres – the right to perform all drama, including Shakespeare, in as long a season as they desired.

Birmingham was the eleventh such location to be awarded a patent which saw the Theatre Royal in Birmingham opening in 1807. They followed in the footsteps of places like York, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Hull and Newcastle. Only two more were to follow, in Brighton and Ramsgate.