On this day in Theatrical history William Farren, the second, born in 1786

On this day in 1786 William Farren the second was born into an acting family. His father was an actor and his brother Percy ran a troupe in Plymouth. William Farrens father had reached the pinnacle of his career in 1784 when he played Othello at Covent Garden, he would remain at Covent Garden until his death in 1795. Farren had been left £8000, the modern equivalent is seven hundred and ninety thousand pounds, by his father and so was able to start a career on the stage without worrying about his earnings. He would join his brothers troupe in Plymouth and debut on the stage of the Theatre Royal Plymouth in 1806 in the play 'Love a la Mode' by Charles Macklin. Moving on from this debut he carved a career from himself out of playing "crusty old bachelors, jealous old husbands, stormy fathers, worrying uncles or old fops" and reached the London stage in 1818 as Sir Peter Teazle in 'School for Scandal' at Covent Garden. Farren would then flit back and forth between the companies at Covent Garden and Drury Lane, although he did have a spell as the stage manager at the Haymarket, before falling ill onstage with paralysis in 1843. His popularity dropped after he came back from his illness due to the negative effect it had on all the aspects of his acting, so he moved into actor management and took over the Strand Theatre and later the Olympic theatre. Farren passed away at his home in Brompton Square in 1861.



Punch and Judy Exhibition at Worthing Museum

Today the sun finally came out for more than a couple of hours so LibraryGirl and I made our way down the town to enjoy the sunshine and do some research at the central Library. We went into the library and found ourselves directed to Worthing Museum to view a specific display. Whilst at the museum we decided to have look at the current Punch and Judy exhibition celebrating 350 years of Mr Punch and his adventures.

Punch and Judy shows have gone through a lot of changes and evolved due to different circumstances and this was very well displayed at the Worthing Museum. It offered timelines, contexts and all manner of items to interact with. You could even put on your own Punch and Judy show. At the time we went to the exhibit it was very quiet with only one family visiting it but the children were enjoying themselves learning about Mr Punch's history and how it fits in with Worthing's own history. That was the one overall message I got from the exhibit, despite the age and tradition of Punch and Judy, that the history of Worthing, because it is a seaside town, and the history of Punch is intertwined.

As I have already mentioned Mr Punch has evolved and as you can see in the video posted up above his original tale has changed over the years and most of the performers, or Professors, have taken out the child killing, the women beating, police officer attacking, executioner hangings and Devil chasing and inserted more up to date references and more child friendly material. Despite these changes to the plot Punch and Judy remains popular and I reckon this is because Mr Punch has always been, and will always be, a naughty man who manages to escape in the cheekiest ways possible. The exhibition is really good and if you are in the West Sussex area and you want to while away an hour and have a coffee or lunch Worthing has some great cafes, Wrights in Warwick street being one of them, excellent beaches and gardens, a true theatrical pedigree and of course the Museum. It is free entry to the Museum although they are asking for people to donate both to the upkeep of the Museum and to help house their currently homeless collection of Teddy Bears. I cannot recommend Worthing Museum enough, it was a great visit and I look forward to the next exhibition they put on.

Tomorrow is the May Fayre in Covent Garden, there they will celebrate the 350 years of Punch and Judy with performances, stalls, workshops, folk music and dancing. It all starts with a Grand Procession at 11am so if you are in the London area and like puppetry or you remember seeing a Punch and Judy stall when you were younger and want to be nostalgic it is well worth a look at. I have watched several performances on youtube of acts from years past at the May Fayre and the standard is very high. However my favourite video I have watched is by the Storybox Theatre company and it is their performer Rod Burnett performing the traditional, and I mean traditional, English Punch and Judy show in Spanish. You may be worried that if you don't speak Spanish it will be hard to understand and you won't be able to enjoy it but Punch and Judy is an extension of Pantomime and therefore language is the least important part of it, the most important is of course the action.

It is well worth sitting through the whole 40 minutes and before you ask my fave bit is with the sausage maker... its slapstick comedy at its most pure.

Let me know, what is your favourite part of a Punch and Judy show?

Have a great weekend.

Xtofer 

February the 1st in Theatrical History

(John Philip Kemble and Sarah Siddons in Macbeth as painted by Thomas Beach)

On the first of February 1757 John Philip Kemble was born. The son of Roger Kemble (b 1721 d 1802) and Sarah Ward (b 1735 d 1807) he was part of the theatrical dynasty the Kemble Family. John Kemble had several siblings being one of twelve children, out of whom 5 others became actors including the most famous female actor of the age Sarah Siddons. The family has its beginnings in the famous 'Ward Company of Comedians' run by John's grandfather John Ward and the union of Roger Kemble to John Ward's daughter Sarah solidified the legacy of the Kemble family. John Philip Kemble learnt his trade touring with his grandfathers company and ended up having great success on the London scene after debuting at Drury Lane in Hamlet. In 1803 Kemble left Drury Lane and joined George Frederick Cooke at the Covent Garden company with his sister Mrs Siddons joining him soon after. Tragedy struck five years later when Covent Garden was destroyed by a fire. Both Mrs Siddons and Kemble lost their vast wardrobes to the fire and chose to build a new theatre designed by the architect Robert Smirke, his most recognisable work is the facade of the British Museum, costing one hundred and fifty thousand pounds in 1809 which is the equivalent of nine million pounds today. This of course led to increases in the price of attendance which brought about the darkest part of Kemble's career when on opening night of the new theatre at Covent Garden the audience cried out for the old prices and continued until the police and military had to be called. For two months riots and disruptions continued under his regime at Covent Garden until he finally agreed to reduce prices to the old rates. Kemble would retire in 1817 leaving his share in Covent Garden to his brother Charles but by now the shine on the Kemble family had long been overshadowed by a new star Edmund Kean.



Ulysses is produced at Her Majesty's theatre in 1902. This play is a poetry play based on the ancient Greek tale and was written by Stephen Phillips. It was produced by the theatre company of Beerbohm-Tree and is speculated to have been part of the inspiration for James Joyce's later novel of the same name.