The Theatres Act of 1843: Today in Theatrical History

(pic courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery)



On the 22nd of August 1843 a new act of law was passed to eliminate the restrictions on regional theatre. Essentially it was designed to curb the powers of the Lord Chamberlain and to stop the patent theatres from continuing their monopoly of the industry. Prior to this act only the patent theatres were allowed to show spoken drama, although a minor adjustment to the previous act of 1788 allowed smaller theatres to produce spoken dramas with a magistrates license, which stopped many regional venues being able to flourish. When the act was passed it allowed local authorities to license theatres fully which led to the growth of musical hall, variety and the regional theatre scene. The other important change made by the law was the decision to stop the Lord Chamberlain from cherry picking which dramas could be shown, from 1843 onwards the Lord Chamberlain, George Sackville-West the 5th Earl De La Warr, would only be able to turn down a play if it:

'is fitting for the preservation of good manners, decorum or of the public peace to do so...'

Of course this would all change 124 years later with the 1968 Theatres Act.

Loring Mandel's 'Conspiracy' and how my vision came to life... just not by me.

Throughout my life I have been passionate about several things but I would say my two biggest are history and theatre. Growing up I was obsessed with WWII, not in a weird way, and watched hundreds of programmes about the evil that happened during that war and the people involved. It fascinated me and the main reason was because it throws up so many uncomfortable questions about the nature of humanity. Even today I cannot fathom what caused an entire section of Europe to ignore and dismiss the plight of certain sections of society or to justify them. I couldn't understand when younger the powerful weapon of fear and what it could do to nations and to the world. It is my lack of understanding and my desire to reconcile the facts with what I would do in that situation that dragged me back again and again to programmes about the Nazi's and the atrocities that were committed during those six years. When I reached University I was given the opportunity to play several characters in 'Fear and Misery of the Third Reich' a play by Bertolt Brecht which studies the culture of fear and the changing of the German society from within during the 1930s. It is a chilling play which I have never forgotten. I made it my mission to research as much as possible in the rehearsal period of the play, as an actor I make it my own personal quest to learn all I can regarding my character and setting, and part of what I wanted to look at was other plays/films about the Nazi regime and how they approached the stories. So I made a list including films such as 'Cabaret' and 'Bent', both of which I had previously seen and the latter being a play I never wish to witness again due to its content, then I looked into other pieces such as 'Hitler: Rise of Evil' before coming across Loring Mandel's wonderful work 'Conspiracy'.

'Conspiracy' is a dramatisation of the Wannsee Conference, the meeting of Nazi officials and beauracrats who put together the plan of how to exterminate the jews. It was written by Loring Mandel who took the minutes of the meeting, all of which were supposed to have been destroyed, and wove this script together. It is severely chilling and incredibly effective, if you have not seen it before please watch the following clip.

('Conspiracy' was written by Loring Mandel and produced by the BBC and HBO in 2001. It is distributed by HBO and its copyright belongs to those mentioned)

That is a real conversation that actually happened. The men on that day in that room applauded the idea of disposing of 60,000 people a day. It sickened me, not the fact that it happened as we know historically it did, the fact that these men sat around and allowed these horrific things to be said. The idea that fear drove them to such hatred, that the cost of a human life meant nothing to these people and it hit me in a way that I didn't expect. It made the whole situation seem more real and to hear this group of men discuss the way that their goverment would commit genocide and justify it was shocking.

After leaving University the film 'Conspiracy' stayed with me and I began to want to work towards a theatrical production of it. It struck me that it was a fantastic stage play, a sort of Nazi 12 angry men, and that it would be an excellent piece for students of WWII and the holocaust to see. In 2009 I tried finding out how to get hold of the script for the piece. I tried all the usual online film script websites and forums but found nothing. I then did a lot of research on the writer Loring Mandel and found out his agents information. I contacted his agent in LA several times and got no replies, I didn't really expect to as after all I was just some young actor from the UK wanting to put on a play. I didn't give up though, I kept researching Mandel and came across a contact which may or may not have been his family and I thought 'what the heck' so I emailed this contact and it was Mandel's family. They were incredibly nice and helpful and put me in touch with Loring. I got into contact with him and explained how much I loved his film and what I wanted to do with the play if it was available to be performed, rumours had been rife since 2001 that he was going to stage a production in NY, and that I would be using it as an educational tool. I didn't get anywhere with my enquiries but Loring Mandel and the rest of the Mandel family treated me so nicely I just notched it up as a failure that although disappointing was not a dead loss as I got to email someone I greatly admired. I would like to thank the Mandel family again for their help and politeness.

I hadn't given up on one day seeing 'Conspiracy' as a stage play as after all it was a popular film and on numerous occaisions Mandel himself said he wanted to do it. Well in 2010 a theatre company in Michigan managed to get the rights from Mandel to perform the play, the story about the process can be found at this link here, and in November 2011 it was performed for the very first time at the Riverwalk Theatre in Lansing Michigan. I am glad to hear it finally got performed and I hope the power of the piece came through. Sometimes its annoying when you know something would be a good play or production and for whatever reasons you do not get to accomplish what you want but knowing that it has now been performed and has been realised makes me happy. Plus who knows maybe one day the UK premiere of this wonderful play will be a FPTheatre Productions event directed by Christopher Squire... we can hope and plan... now where is that email address?

Today in Theatrical History: The Tailor Riots of 1805



At the Haymarket Theatre London 207 years ago today, one of the most curious riots in theatrical annals occured. In 1767 Foote had produced a burlesque, the author of which has never been discovered, called The Tailors: A Tragedy for Warm Weather. Dowton announced the revival of the piece for his benefit. As the title implies, it was a satire about Tailors, and when the posters were seen, a meeting was organised by the tailors of London, who vowed to oppose the performance by any means neccesary. Menacing letters were sent to Dowton, telling him that seventeen thousand tailors would attend to hiss and boo the piece, and one who signed himself "DEATH" added that ten thousand more could be found if required. These threats were laughed at by the actors; but when night came, it was discovered that the tailors were serious, and that, with few exceptions, they had contrived to secure every seat in the theatre, while a mob outside tried to gain admittance. The moment Dowton appeared upon the stage, there was an uproar, and someone threw a pair of shears at him. Not a word would the rioters listen to, nor would they accept any compromise in the way of changing the piece. They howled and hissed without intermission, hundreds of exasperated tailors; outside howled and bellowed thousands of tailers attempted to storm the house. So formidable did the riot become that a magistrate had to be sent for and special constables called out; but these were helpless against the overwhelming odds; eventually the guards were summoned, who made sixteen arrests and ran off the rest.

Back from Hiatus and Olympics Opening Ceremony

And I'm back!

Hello to all my readers out there! I just wanted to say that I am back from my hiatus. I know this blog has gone dark in the past for months on end but this past month and a half has just been a break for a couple of big life moments. LibraryGirl and I got married in the middle of July and just got back from honeymoon which has delayed any posting. So henceforth LibraryGirl will be referred to as MrsHeadTheatre or MrsHT. Apart from my happy nuptials in the past month I got to see 'Sweeney Todd' on the West End stage starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton it was...

'What happened then, well thats the play, And he wouldn't want us to give it away. Not Sweeney, Not Sweeney Todd. The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!'

So expect a review to make its appearance on this blog very soon.

Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past year would know that currently London is holding the Olympic Games. Sport is a different type of drama that is for certain but the theatricality of the United Kingdom shone through with the opening ceremony. There were many claims before the production even aired that it had no chance of matching China's efforts back in Beijing mainly based on the fact that most people hated the British involvement in the 2008 Olympics closing ceremony. The general consensus was that the bus which opened to reveal musicians and dancers... etc was eccentric and strange. Well last Friday night we showed that yes the UK is full of eccentric artists who can do wonders with choreography, music and lighting. Danny Boyle's production unfolded like a beautiful dream which all, in this writers opinion, revolved around the central theme of the Shakespearian qoute:

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again

Of course the fact that it involved Sir Branagh, a personal hero of mine, and contained some of my favourite music tracks kept me pleased. However Boyle showed himself to be a master of imagery when he seared into every viewers memories the sight of 5 interlinking Olympic rings hammered from hot steel. That and the sight of James Bond with HRH Queen Elizabeth the II are probably the two things people will remember from this games opening ceremony but I think a lot should be said for the NHS staff who danced so enthusiastically during their segment and who just gave their all... plus the drummers in the Industrial section who carried on drumming all night it seemed. The technicians on this show proved why the UK still produces the best musicals in the World and has the best film crews. All in all a wonderful production which I hope gets released on bluray so I can have a copy of it.

So I shall be back to provide a review for Sweeney Todd, I'm not sure if it will be a vlog or just a written blog but you can be sure to find it here along with all my theatrical musings in the coming weeks and months as I head for 10,000 page views.