CORONATIONS AND THE STAGE

BOOKS OF THE DAY

By W. J. LAWRENCE

ALTHOUGH bur leading players from Shakespeare's day for many generations onwards boasted the honourable title of

His Majesty's Servants, and although all the players of earlier times were noted for their unswerving loyalty—not a few of them fought and died for Charles I—it is remarkable that the eighteenth century had got well under way before the stage saw fit to echo the rejoicing which generally took place over the coming of a new monarch. It was in 1727 that old Drury established a precedent by celebrating George II's accession to the throne with an ornate and very profitable revival of Henry VIII, in which the outstanding feature was a sumptuous Coronation pageant. But, beyond being an acceptable new

departure, nothing associated with the production now bears recalling save the curious fact that after its run the superb

new costumes used were stored in the stock wardrobe, and were made to do duty in another celebration of the sort thirty-four years later.

There was what proved a one-sided contest in the autumn of 1761 when Drury Lane and Covent Garden entered into rivalry with Coronation pageants given in association with Shakespearian revivals in honour of the recent crowning of George III. Although he came belatedly into the field, Rich of Covent Garden won with a loose rein. Sad to say that great master of spectacular effect never got a personal

impression of his triumph, for he was stricken down at the last rehearsal of his fine show and died a fortnight later. As for Garrick's, rival pageant, it was a contemptible affair, how contemptible can be best realised by a perusal of the account

given of it by an unbiassed player of the time. Writing in his Life of Garrick, Tom Davies says :

"Mr. Garrick knew very well that Rich would spare no expense in the presentation of his show ; he knew, too, that he had a taste in the ordering, dressing and setting out these pompous processions, superior to his own ; he therefore, was contented with giving the Coronation with the old dresses, which had been often occasionally used from 1727 to 1761. This show he repeated for nearly forty nights successively, sometimes at the end of a play, and at other times after a farce. The exhibition was the meanest and the most unworthy of a theatre I ever saw. The stage, indeed, was opened into Drury Lane, and a new and unexpected sight surprised the audience of a real bonfire, and the populace huzzaing and drinking porter to the health of Queen Anne Bullen. The stage in the Meantime, amidst the parading of dukes, duchesses, archbishops, peeresses, heralds, &c., was covered with a thick fog from the smoke of the fire, which served to hide the tawdry dresses of the procession- ists. During this idle piece of mockery, the actors being exposed to the suffocations of smoke, and the raw air from the open street, were seized with colds, rheumatisms and swelled faces. At length the indignation of the audience delivered the , comedians from this wretched badge of nightly slavery, which gained nothing to the Managers but disgrace and empty benches. Tired with the repeated insult of a show which had nothing to support it but gilt copper and old rags, they fairly drove the exhibitors of it from the stage by hooting and hissing, to the great joy of the whole theatre.'

Fate ordained it that a whole 6o years should pass before there should be another coronation to celebrate, and longer still before another rivalry of the sort should be experienced. In the meanwhile, stage lighting having been improved, spectacular effect had made considerable advance. Superb for its time as had been Rich's display, it was exceeded not only in point of brilliance but of aptness by the Coronation pageant with which old Drury on August ist, 182r, signalised the accession of George IV: Informed by an innovative spirit which moved him to forestall Reinhardt, the eccentric Elliston had conceived, the idea of erecting a long narrow platform in the middle of the pit from the stage to the back wall, and it was on this that all the processions took place. Arrayed in robes which had been closely copied from the king's own, he himself figured as the counterfeit presentment of George IV.

It is said that one night he was so far carriel away by the enthusiasm of the house that he became suffused with the regal spirit and gave the audience an impressive benediction with "Bless you, my people." His was the first corqnation pageant that was contemporary, not historical. It was arrangel in several scenes, the first of' which gave a panoramic view of the environs of Westminster Abbey, showing, as well as the Abbey itself, the tower of St. Margaret's Church, the central pavilion, the galleries of spectators and the troops through which the procession passed. The next scene revealed the interior of Westminster Abbey, and in it part of the coronation ceremony was carefully performed, a choir giving at intervals some of the music actually rendered at George IV's coronation. After a humorous interlude came the last scene showing the interior of Westminster Hall pre- pared for a banquet, and, after the time-honoured ceremony of the King's Champion had been represented, the whole was rounded off by the singing of "God Save the King."

Given intermittently for many nights, the Drury Lane spec- tacle was a great success, so much so that George IV himself went to see it. At the end of the season, Elliston, nothing if not enterprising, was moved to take the production into the provinces, front platform and all, and opened at Northampton with great éclat. But when a move was made to Coventry disturbances arose through the stirring-up of political rancour. On this score, one cannot do better than quote from the long- forgotten autobiography of Francis Courtney Wemyss, the actor :

"From Northampton we proceeded to Coventry, decidedly at that time one of the most radical towns in England. Here the actors had to endure the groans and hisses of the audience, as the representatives of those persons politically offensive to the spectators. The procession was a scene of tumult, each character being received with tumultuous applause, or with hisses, cat-calls, and other deafening noise. I, as Lord Castlereagh, was the first obnoxious person who made his appearance. From the moment I placed my foot upon the stage until the last page supporting my train dis- appeared, it was one cry of ' Shame ! Shame ! " Off ! Off ! ' ' Queen ! Queen ! " Who sold his country ? ' mingled with groans and hisses. This ceremony generally occupied about two minutes. The Duke of York followed me, and the change from hissing and hooting to applauding and huzzaing was wonderful. The next who incurred their displeasure were the King's Attorney General and the Judges. Prince Leopold was favourably received, but for his Majesty, it was reserved to try the strength of the partfe;. Herz the row generally terminated in a fight between his Majesty's loyal subjects and the admirers of the Queen, which lasted till the scene changed to the banqueting-hall."

Once, and once only, has the coronation of a foreign monarch been directly celebrated on our stage. It was the first mani-

festation of that better feeling towards our neighbours which ultimately led to the entente cordiale. And, curiously enough, it was a renewal of the old and long-forgotten contest between the two great patent houses. In the summer of 1825, Drury Lane and Covent Garden produced rival pageants in honour of the coronation of Charles X of France at Rheims late in the preceding May, and once more history repeated itself, for Covent Garden won. This was principally due to the foresight of Charles Kemble, the manager of that house, in sending James Robinson Planche, the noted archaeologist and dramatist, to Rheims to make sketches of the costumes worn at the enthrone- ment and of the ceremony in general. Clogged with debt and fast approaching bankruptcy, Elliston of Drury Lane was in no mood to pour out money lavishly on a brief summer show, and his aim was, with the least possible expenditure, to take the wind out of Kemble's sails. "According to the discourteous and discreditable custom of English theatrical management," as Planche puts it in his Recollections, he produced his pageant a few nights before Kemble's, "but the hasty, slovenly, and inaccurate exhibition was speedily eclipsed by the real Simon Pure, to the truth of which the testimony of many eye-witnesses of the ceremony at Rheims was publicly recorded." The radical defectiveness of the Drury Lane show is revealed in the fact that the interior of the Cathedral was painted from an engraving of the enthronement of Louis XVI, when the decorations were altogether different. It was Elliston's eclipse.