Show Goes On in Archives

It’s fantastic to see that theatre is now back in Beverley and townsfolk can once again look on Beverley as a centrepiece for high-quality theatrical entertainment with the recent opening of the East Riding Theatre. 

From 1840, when the theatre in Lairgate closed its doors for good, generations of Beverlonians were to miss out on a permanent entertainment venue.

But what of this theatre of yesteryear? What sort of cultural delights were laid on for the people of Beverley 200 years ago? Staff at the East Riding Archives have unearthed the answer with a collection of playbills dating from 1789-1821. Amongst some familiar favourites such as ‘Hamlet’, ‘Robinson Crusoe’, and ‘Barber of Seville’, there are dozens of plays that you might never have heard of: ‘First Love’, ‘Cure For The Heart Ache’, and ‘Dramatist’ were popular plays around this time. They also put on a farce called ‘The Apprentice’ (no mention of a ‘Lord Sugar’ or anyone being ‘fired’ though), and had their own version of ‘Braveheart’ – ‘Wallace: The Hero Of Scotland’, though it’s doubtful the visual effects were quite so gruesome as Mel Gibson’s motion picture.

An interesting feature of the playbills is the way in which they describe the backdrops and special effects to be used in the play. Clearly, this was seen as a selling point for potential audiences, who were reeled in to see plays such as ‘Libertine’, which promises a “Grand Banquet Chamber, changes to a place of Horror - Daemons sink on a Burning Rock Amidst a Shower Of Fire…”

In the days before screen entertainment this must have been a tantalising prospect for audiences. Sam Bartle, collections officer at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “With the abundance of TV and cinema, and all the high quality special effects that we see nowadays, many of us tend to forget what a great visual spectacle theatre can be. For those audiences 200 years ago, the theatre was their ‘television’, their ‘movies’, and they must have really appreciated the entertainment value of a live performance.”

One of the more unusual spectacles that was put on in Beverley featured two brothers, W R Grossmith and Master B Grossmith, made notable by the fact that Master Grossmith was just six years old, and his brother was also a boy at the time. The Grossmith brothers appeared in a medley of short performances which saw them take on 23 different characters in scenes from various plays including ‘Henry The Fourth’, ‘Richard The Third’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. The playbill boasts “The rapid changes and extraordinary effect which the Scenery and Dresses produce, appearing to alter the size of the Masters G[rossmith] renders it necessary to state that the whole of the characters are personated by the two brothers alone, who will be seen previous to their performance, that their real size may be known.”

The playbills are available to view on request in the Archives at the Treasure House, Champney Road, Beverley. Call (01482) 392790 for more details.