By Command of their Majesties. This Thursday, March 6, 1800, their Majesties Servants Will Perform a Comedy called The Rivals. [...] To which (by Command) will be added the Dramatic Romance of Blue Beard; or, Female Curiosity.

PRINTED ON SILK

Letterpress broadside printed on gold ribbed silk, with a scalloped sawtooth edge on each side. Incorporating an engraved Royal Crest at head, three ornamental rules, and a variety of typefaces. Old folds, cockling (due in part to the ribbing of the silk), a few chips at edge, one closed marginal tear at top edge. London, Drury Lane, C. Lowndes, March 6th

A handsome and ephemeral survival from a production at Georgian London's leading Theatre.

 

The two plays offered on the night of Thursday March 6th 1800 were the popular Sheridan comedy The Rivals, and George Colman's dramatic romance Blue Beard; or Female Curiosity. The latter of these had opened at the Theatre Royal in January of 1798, to great success. The plot, drawn from a French folktale recorded by Charles Perrot, tells the strange story of young woman forced to marry a menacing character called Abomelique (Blue Beard). He gives her free reign of his castle, but tells her not to enter one specific chamber. When she does she is confronted by the corpses of his previous wives - her curiosity thus spares her their fate.

 

Replete with Orientalist themes (Abomelique is an Anglicisation of 'Abu Malik', and other characters are named Ibrahim, Selim, Shacabac and Fatima), Colman's retelling of this tale specifically situates the action in Turkey, tapping into a growing European obsession with the dangerous eroticised space of the seraglio.

 

Amongst the actors listed on the broadside are a Mr Kemble, likely John Philip, younger brother of Sarah Siddons. The role of Blue Beard was played by William Barrymore, scion of the great acting dynasty. Anna Maria Crouch stars opposite, infamous for her brief affair with the Prince of Wales. George Sheridan, author of The Rivals, was during this period the manager of Drury Lane. 

 

Such playbills were used both to advertise performances, and more likely in this case, as souvenirs of an evening's entertainment. The printing on fine silk would have made for an attractive keepsake. Unsurprisingly, there are no copies listed on OCLC.

Stock Code: 252068