I discovered a real gem to add to my blogs on Bath yesterday – the old Royal Theatre, Orchard Street, Bath – Jane Austen was certainly a visitor there.

Old Royal Theatre, Orchard Street, Bath

When I met a friend for coffee in Bath yesterday I happened to spot a leaflet on the Orchard Street Theatre which is still open for guided tours. I was wonderfully surprised. I have lived near and visited Bath for thirty years and never heard of it before. I knew there had been a previous theatre to the one in use now, which I have been to several times, but I thought it had been destroyed long ago. I have even tried previously to find out where it was. So what a brilliant thing to find it still existed and be able look around it and find out all about its history.

c1694 Map of Bath by Gilimore, available from Bath in Time

I spoke in my blog on The history of life in 18^th Century Bath about Queen Anne’s visit to Bath in 1703 to take the waters for her health. There is an old map of Bath by Gilmore from 1694 which shows Bath before the Georgian redevelopment. It must have looked still much like this when Queen Anne visited and the city experienced its embarrassing lack of entertainments.

There was a theatre at the time but it was in a stable by the upper borough walls, where the Mineral Water Hospital stands now, the current hospital for Rheumatic Diseases. Opposite this hospital is the only standing section of the medieval wall.

The Queen had brought with her, in her entourage, the entire Drury Lane Theatre Company and they must have been sorely disgusted by the adapted stable for a stage.

After Queen Anne had left, Bath was embarrassed enough for its wealthy occupants to raise the funds to build a theatre on this spot.But even so it was poor in comparison to its London counterparts and therefore attracted only equally poor travelling players.

A contemporary writer in ‘The Spectator’ spoke of the entertainments thus, in derision of the costumes;

‘Alexander the Great was acted in a paper cravat; the Earl of Sussex seemed to have no distress but his poverty; and my Lord Foppington wanted any better means to show himself a fop than by wearing stocking of different colour!’

As well as this Theatre of course, as I have mentioned in my blog on the Assembly Rooms in Bath ,after Queen Anne’s visit the assembly rooms began to be established to provide entertainment for visitors to Bath and in general Bath was a growing improving and developing city.

It was at this point Beau Nash who I have been blogging about for the last few weeks began his reign.

North Parade including the Lower Assembly Rooms, 1779, available from Bath in Time

Of course the assembly rooms recognised the inadequacy of the Theatre and took advantage establishing unofficial stage plays as part of their entertainments and one of these, the Harrison’s Rooms, had by the late 1730’s built a theatre to seat 200 in its basement.

The Harrison’s Rooms, later known as the “Lower Rooms”, in comparison to the “Upper Rooms” which are still open, used to stand in the position of what is now the island in the middle of the traffic area where the tourist buses depart from.

However this basement Theatre was still no comparison to the London Theatres but its rivals, including the old stable, were closed in 1736, when an Act of Parliament was made to close unlicensed playhouses.

John Hippisley in “The Cheats of Scapin” by J H Green – The art Archive Garrick Club, London

It was finally in 1747 that Bath was challenged to do better.

A Bristol actor, John Hippisley, raised the point that Bath needed a better theatre by addressing the ‘Nobility and Gentry of Bath’, he stated;

‘Plays are like mirror made, for men to see, How bad they are, how good they ought to be. Theatrical Performances, when conducted with Decency and Regularity, have been always esteem’d the most rational Amusements, by the Polite and Thinking Part of Mankind: Strangers therefore, must be greatly surpris’d to find at Bath, Entertainments of this Sort in no better Perfection than they are, as it is a Place, during its Seasons, honour’d with so great a Number of Persons, eminent for Politeness, Judgement and Taste: and where might reasonably be expected (next to London) the best Theatre in England.’

Bath responded to the challenge and raised the funds for a brand new, purpose built theatre to be positioned outside of the old medieval walls near the South Gate. Nine investors contributed fifty pounds. Beau Nash, and John Wood the elder, who I have also mentioned in previous blogs on Prior Park and its Grotto and Graffiti, were included in the investors along with Hippisley and other actors.

John Wood was responsible for much of the building and the development of Bath. He chose the site. But the syndicate still had to raise further funds to complete the build and when Hippisley died before its completion a Bath brewer and candle maker took charge of the project, John Palmer. To raise the additional investment he tempted other investors with a prospectus of what they had to gain including the offer of a ‘Silver Ticket, which shall admit the Bearer into any Part of the House, every Night of Performing, except on Benefit nights.’

He increased the share holders to twenty and the Orchard Street Theatre opened on the 27^th October, 1750, to a prologue spoken by a good friend of John Hippisley, Mr Watts.

‘As some you Shoot, which by the Plante’s Hand, is gently mov’d into a kinder Land; If the warm Sunshine spread itsgenial Rays, Soon a fair Tree is verdant Leaves displays, And rears with Blossoms its luxuriant Head, Whilst all the Warblers’wanton in the Shade . ‘Tis Steadiness alone can fix the Root, And rip’ning Autumn gives the Golden Fruit But if nipping Blast, or dead’ning Frost Too Fierce advance, the hopeful product’s lost. So will it be with Us, whose Art and Care Have raised this Structure, to what we call fair; with ev’ry varied Art have strove to charm, If painting pleaser, or Harmony can warm. Shine forth auspicious, Endeavours crown, And Fire Us, by Success, to gain Renown.’

Coming out of Country Theatre by Frederick George Byron – Said to be based on the Orchard Street Theatre, Bath

Of course the New Theatre was now in direct competition with the old one in the Lower Assembly rooms and they competed quite hotly with many arguments as they fought for actors and staff over a period of five years, but then Beau Nash in his way of orchestrating Bath for his own profit stepped in and informed the Lower Assembly rooms that their theatre, which he had no investment in, must close.

In my next blog I’ll tell you more about the new theatre and share some more pictures, stories and facts, both about the building itself, life within the theatre and those who visited it. There is still loads to tell, including details of Jane Austen’s connection, too much for one blog probably.

Jane Lark is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional love stories.

See the side bar for details of Jane’s books, and Jane’s website www.janelark.co.uk to learn more about Jane. Or click ‘like’ on Jane’s Facebook page to see photo’s and learn historical facts from the Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, which Jane publishes there. You can also follow Jane on twitter at @janelark

Stories of Gamesters in 18th Century Bath

Thomas Rowlandson The Hazard Room

This week I am moving from the theme of real life 18^th Century affairs of the heart, to affairs of the sharper and looking in more detail at the stories of the gamblers or gamesters who populated Bath’s society in the 1700s.

Again this story is taken from the Life of Beau Nash written by Oliver Goldsmith in 1762.

The social society of Bath in the 18^th Century included a considerable interest in playing cards and gambling as did other social centres like London and Tunbridge Wells. Gaming was a pivotal part of society and many took full advantage of the money to be made from people’s enthusiasm and addiction for card games. Gaming rooms were set up especially for men and women to meet and play and most evening events included an area of gaming tables, as did the assembly rooms in Bath. They were not simply established for pleasure but for profit.

Yet even those who set up these rooms were not above being caught by sharpers. And Beau Nash as an I8^th Century entrepreneur who captured every opportunity for making money was caught several times during his life.

This occasion occurred during a period I have mentioned in an earlier blog on ‘Gambling, Cards and Billiards in the Assembly Rooms of Bath’ at the time when laws were established to cease gambling due to the high number of people being left bankrupt. An Act was introduced by Parliament to prevent fraudulent and excessive gambling, private lotteries and games of Faro, Basset, Hazard, Ace of Hearts and Pharaoh. But those who wished to continue exploiting people hungry for games of chance just invented new games such as ‘Passage’. And when in 1740 Parliament declared all games of chance involving numbers using cards or dice illegal, games not involving numbers were introduced. ‘Even and Odd’, known as E.O. was one of these.

Thomas Rowlandson, The Gaming Table

As I said in my earlier blog, Beau Nash was involved in the development of E.O. C—k invented the game and ran it through a gaming room Nash calls A—e. They shared the profits. But as you might expect of these gaming rooms their morals were rarely high and their activity frequently unfair. A—e broke the agreement with C—k. C—k and his friends then employed a town crier to walk the streets, shouting out that people should not play E.O. at the A—e club because the game was not fair. This is when Beau Nash becomes involved as the orchestrator of society and entertainment A—e asked him to stop the crier.

Beau Nash did and in recompense for his involvement accepted a percentage agreement with A—e.

C—k then also asked Beau Nash to sponsor his own gambling room, probably having recognized the need to influence Beau Nash if he was to continue in business, but Nash claims to have refused the offer.

However when another room was set up, playing the same game, by J—e, Beau Nash agreed a further arrangement between the rooms and a cut of the profits for himself.

All seemed well, but let’s remember the nature of sharpers, they did not play fair among themselves and Nash discovered that they were pocketing profits which were not declared to him. He had A—e arrested and J—e claimed that everyone was fiddling their agreement with Nash. But it would appear Nash never had his losses returned.

His comments on the episode below included reference to the psalm;

For the Lord hateth lying and deceitful lips.

Here is his own account of his opinion of the shapers involved and what occurred.

“THE curse denounced in my motto, is sufficient to intimidate any person, who is not quite abandoned in their evil ways, and who have any fear of God before their eyes, everlasting burnings are a terrible reward for their misdoings and nothing but the most hardened sinners will oppose the judgments of heaven, being without end. This reflection must be shocking to such, as are conscious to themselves, of having erred from the sacred dictates of the Psalmist, and who following the blind impulse of passion, daily forging lies and deceit, to annoy their neighbour. But there are joys in heaven which they can never arrive at, whose whole study is to destroy the peace and harmony, and good order of society in this place.

E O was first set up in A—e room, the profits divided between one C—k (the inventor of the game) and A—e.

The next year, A—e finding the game so advantageous, turned C—k out of his room, and set the game up himself, but C—-k and his friends hired the crier to cry the game down; upon which A—e came running to me to stop it, after he had cried it once, which I immediately did, and turned the crier off the walks. Then A—e asked me to go a fourth with him in the bank, which I consented to; C—k next day took me into his room which he had hired, and proffered me to go half with him, which I refused, being engaged before to A—-e.

J—e then set up the same game, and complained that he had not half play at his room, upon which I made them agree to join their banks, and divide equally the gain and loss, and I to go the like share in the bank.

I taking them to be honest, never enquired what was won or lost, and thought they paid me honestly, till it was discovered, that they had defrauded me of 2000 guineas.

I then arrested A—e, who told me I must go into Chancery, and that I should begin with the people of Bath, who had cheated me of ten times as much; and told my attorney, that J—e had cheated me of 500, and wrote me word that I probably had it not under his hand, which never was used in play. Upon my arresting A—e, I received a letter not to prosecute J—e, for he would be a very good witness. I writ a discharge to J—e for 125l. in full, though he never paid me a farthing, upon his telling me, if his debts were paid, he was not worth a shilling.

Every article of this I can prove from A—e’s own mouth, as a reason that he allowed the bank keepers but 10 per cent because I went 20; and his suborning **** to alter his informations.

RICHARD NASH.”

Jane Lark is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional love stories.