For the Benefit of Mr. Harrington...The London Merchant: or, The History of George Barnwell.

Single Sheet (197 x 145). Browned and a little creased, remains of old blue paper mount on the blank verso.

 

[?Plymouth: no printer, c. 1758-1789]

No copies recorded in OCLC.

 

An unrecorded provincial theatrical handbill for a "concert of musick" for the benefit of a Mr. Harrington at the New Theatre, Plymouth.

 

The handbill states that between the two parts of the concert will be performed ("gratis") George Lillo's The London Merchant - first printed in 1731 and first performed at Drury Lane in June of the same year. The play was re-printed and performed on numerous occasions throughout the 18th-century. 

 

In the play, the lead character, George Barnwell (played at this performance by a Mr. Davies) begins an affair with a prostitute called Sarah Millwood (played by a Miss Cooper) and steals money from his employer to fund the relationship. Barnwell later robs and murders his uncle. John Harrington played the part of Thorowgood, Barnwell's master. 

 

Also performed on the same bill was George Farquhar's The Stage Coach and "a Satyrical Comic Epilogue, on Some-body, In the Character of No-body to be spoken by Mr. Yates". 

 

We have been unable to identify Mr Harrington. The theatre near the Frankfort-Gate Plymouth was built in 1758 and renamed the Theatre Royal after George III visited in 1789. 

Stock Code: 239784