Double dose of Shakespeare in a Market Harborough inn

In 1790 the Talbot Inn in Market Harborough staged two Shakespeare plays within two weeks, revealing a strong appetite for the playwright’s work even in this relatively small market town in Leicestershire - and more than a century after the Bard’s death.

Evidence of these plays happening are captured by a member of the clergy from the period – Reverend Charles Burney – who as a scholar and theatre critic collected the adverts (or playbills) of the plays.

The playbills are part of a collection of ephemera about the performing arts that he amassed, and now form part of the British Library collection (though they are not yet digitised).

But they reveal the way in which the playwright is still being revered, and their writer tries to draw in the audience by underlining themes which are relevant to an 18th century audience – such as courage, rebellion, conspiracy, and threats to the throne. They also promote the entertainment value provided by the part of Shakespeare's recurring character Sir John Falstaff.

Furthermore, the playbill emphases the fact that it’s educational – there are plenty of historical facts - the language is elegant and Shakespeare received a tidy sum for his production of the play… so it must be good!

Just thirteen days later and Romeo and Juliet is on offer at the same venue.

It is likely to have been the version adapted by the actor David Garrick in 1748. His version includes an elaborate funeral procession for Juliet with a sung choral dirge.

To build up the pathos Romeo and Juliet share a final conversation when Juliet wakes up in the tomb just before Romeo dies. It’s the version which proved popular for nearly a century.

By Hannah Manktelow, University of Nottingham doctoral student, working with the British Library

Theatre productions in the 18th and 19th centuries were highly regulated by government.

The regulation began in 1737 with the Licensing Act, brought in by the then Prime Minister Robert Walpole, because his government had been subject to numerous satires on the London stage.

As a result the only way a venue could officially stage a play was if it had a patent. Given that only two patents had been issued – to Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres in London – technically any productions outside these venues were illegal.

However, the groups of players who travelled the country to perform in the provinces often avoid prosecution by local magistrates who were often fans of the theatre themselves.

Then in the later 18th century, provincial theatres were also starting to be awarded ‘patents’ themselves, allowing them to take the name of Theatres Royal.

And in 1788, restrictions were relaxed even more. So, just two years before these performances at the Talbot Inn, smaller towns such as Market Harborough, which were not likely to gain a Theatre Royal, were able to acquire an official licence from magistrates.

Such a licence could be issued for up to sixty days at a time, provided the location was not within twenty miles of London, eight miles of a patent or licensed theatre, fourteen miles from Oxford and Cambridge or ten miles from a Royal residence.