Shakespeare's tragic heroes appear in Launceston

Even the smallest places in England had an appetite for the Bard and his charismatic characters, proving that when it comes Shakespeare, size isn’t everything.

At the beginning of the 19th Century, Launceston had a population of fewer than 1,500, not unusual for a small town in Cornwall. But there was theatre in this relatively remote spot, and it wasn’t only the popular farces of the day.

Launceston was a busy little market town, known for its wool industry and for straw hats. It is only just situated in Cornwall, with the River Tamar that forms the boundary between the county and Devon close by.

Theatre, Launceton Playbill (Credit: The British Library)

Even the smallest places in England had an appetite for the bard and his charismatic characters

For travellers it was the way into Cornwall, and these visitors along with the locals people, would have made up the audience of this particular evening.

They could buy their tickets from the inns in the town or from the cast, and Mr Jefferson or Mr and Mrs Thomas. It is a 'benefit' for the husband and wife, which means that they have chosen the parts they play and will receive the profits from the performance, minus overheads.

This poses a choice for the ambitious, but unknown actor – should he or she select a role that will test their ability and risk the takings at the box office or select a well-known 'name' instead.

The actors have travelled from the Theatre Royal in Plymouth and could call themselves His Majesties Servants.

There are several members of each family in the cast – as you might expect as everyone had a job to do either on stage or behind the scenes.

Mrs Jefferson plays Queen Gertrude with Miss E Jefferson as Ophelia; Master Jefferson in the roles of Lucianus and a Grave-digger; and the Ghost by Mr Jefferson Junior. Mr Thomas is Osrick and Mr J Thomas is Horatio.

As for Mr Glassington or Hamlet on this particular evening, Wednesday February 10th, 1790, research has yielded very little.

Launceston expanded during the 19th Century and, as we can see by this second playbill dated 24 February 1832, Shakespeare continues to be performed.

This time there is a location listed for the theatre.

As the number of educated people grew, there was a demand for talks and discussions. Writers such as Shakespeare were studied and literary criticism was beginning to become a subject worthy of study.

It is only fitting that the place chosen for the evening’s performance of Romeo and Juliet was 'the Lecture Room'.

These two playbills straddle an era which was dominated by two patent theatres both in London.

Until the Theatres Act of 1843, performances of works such as Shakespeare were permitted by local magistrates occasionally for up to sixty days at a time, proving that the location was not within twenty miles of the capital, eight miles of a licensed provincial theatre, fourteen miles of Oxford and Cambridge or ten miles from a royal residence.

There is no evidence that these two groups of actors ever returned to perform Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet in Launceston.

But the Bodmin area has inspired another brooding yet romantic character, Ross Poldark from Winston Graham’s novels of the same name.