SEASON OF
1763-1764
Proni
fter the riots of the previous year the present season must
$ have seemed quiet and humdrum indeed. But theatrical activity
was not wholly routine. Both patent houses experimented
with new pieces, presenting Londoners with four new main
Vs> and nine new afterpieces. Garrick had gone to France, leaving his part
management of Drury Lane to George Col man. A number of new and
of
and
th,
s lSlng actors and dancers appeared. Foote extended the season with his
Q(. cr shows, and late in the season at the Spring Gardens those “prodigies
miture ’ Miss and Master Mozart played a concert on the harpsichord
0rgan. Audiences were entertained by a total of 472 performances from
efforts of about 200 performers,
an * *'C ncw acting favorite at Drury Lane was William Powell, who first
j>hi] etb having been previously coached by Garrick, on 8 October as
die $tCr t0 “prodigious applause” of the audience. William Hopkins,
0f Pr°mpter, follows Powell’s successes and failures this season with a series
Hr ,miT,Cnts *n his Diary. We are fortunate to have also Notes from the
pubi. l^ns hhary transcribed on the Huntington Playbills by J. P. Kemble, and
I he S C<^ ^ h)ougald MacMillan in his Drury Lane Calendar, 1747-1776.
io ^transcriptions vary somewhat from those appearing in the Diary, now
fiarij * °*8er Shakespeare Library. In addition we have a few notes in the
a c ^ an Uni<ientified eighteenth-century amanuensis who seems to be
ani0 lnuator of the Cross Diary. His comments are brief. The variances
of ti ^ three, not only upon Powell’s performances, but on the activity
H
°pk' season> arc worth study. I distinguish between the three by
eJ- 1 ■ Kemble transcript), and Cross Diary (for the Cross continuator,
(f0r , °S ^0r the Folger Library manuscript), Hopkins Diary — MacMillan
1005