A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737

This checklist attempts to identify and to provide information concerning new plays and entertainments presented on the major London stages during the period 1700-1737. The termini arise for two equally significant but very different reasons. The earlier terminus is simply the stopping point of the Annals of English Drama 975-1700 and other works. To begin in 1700 thus provides a logical continuation of important existing scholarship. The latter date arises from historical mandate. The Licensing Act of 1737 resulted in an immediate, negative influence on the production of new plays: what had been a flood of new productions before June of 1737 slowed to a trickle in the fall of that year and in subsequent seasons. Not until later in the century did anything like the vitality of the first 37 years reappear.
A number of sources provided the titles for this checklist. William J. Burling culled The London Stage for possible new plays, searched eighteenth-century editions of plays (usually first editions) for related advertising notices by the publishers, and examined well-known contemporary lists. He also read extensively into 37 years' worth of eighteenth-century newspapers. By far the most profitable line of research, however, involved music reference sources, such as The British Union-Catalogue of Early Printed Music, Roger Fiske's seminal 1973 study of theater music, and various specialized works on such publishers as William Walsh. Also of interest and occasional aid were eighteenth-century songbooks, such as those by Thomas Durfey.
The plays are presented in chronological order, keyed to The London Stage. The chronological listing has the additional virtue of providing a sense of on-going competition and theatrical trends, revealing "at a glance" the ebb and flow of an entire season. Each entry includes eight pieces of information: date of premiere, venue, title, author(s) or attribution, type of play (genre), publisher or printer, date of publication, and notes of interest on attribution, performance history, or secondary studies of these matters.
To facilitate ease of cross-reference and to build upon the impressive body of work already completed, Checklist includes all London theaters of the period as selected by the editors of The London Stage: Drury Lane, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Covent Garden, Dorset Garden, the Royal Opera House in the Haymarket, Goodman's fields (both locations), the "Little" Haymarket Theatre, the York Buildings, James Street, and Richmond. Appendix A lists the entertainments appearing at the various fairs, taverns, schools, and other non-major theater locations of all kinds in the London environs. Numerous interesting cases of unproduced plays have led the author to create a sound special appendix (B) for them.
An extensive index includes play titles and subtitles, playwrights, and related scholars.