Royal Cornwall Gazette 23 3 1805 p 3 col 1

By kind permission of Kresen Kernow

These two plays and accompanying entertainment were performed on 3 April 1805 in Penzance's Georgian Theatre in Chapel Street built in 1787. The site is at the rear of the Union Hotel.

At that time England was still at war with France, artist Samuel Palmer was travelling and painting in Cornwall, and a Cornish movement for Parliamentary reform was begun by 14 Cornishmen meeting in the Freemasons' Tavern.

Georgian theatre-goers could be a rude and noisy crowd. During a performance the audience ate, drank, chatted, interacted with the cast, and came and went as they pleased. In general, audiences were a mix of rich and poor.

Penzance Theatre was situated above stables. Consequently,  the noise of chatter and coughs from the audience was added to by the stamping of horses and the swearing of ostlers from below. The theatre was closed in 1831.

Morrab Library in Penzance  has a fascinating collection of play-bills which include later performances of  The Honey Moon:

Playbill from 1821, featuring a later production of The Honeymoon

By kind permission of Morrab Library

and The Spoil'd Child, a popular farce  written by Isaac Bickerstaff  (the pen name of Jonathan Swift), first performed in 1787.

 Playbill from 1828, featuring a later production of The Spoil’d Child featuring the Dawson family

By kind permission of Morrab Library

For this performance, the Dawson family is still in evidence with one unaccompanied married woman and one unmarried actress.

The Honey Moon was a brand-new comedy in five acts by John Tobin, first performed that same year, 1805, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. This somewhat ambiguous picture was painted by George Clint and represents a performance in 1835.

George Clint Scene from ‘The Honeymoon’ c 1835

By kind permission of Victoria and Albert Museum

It is interesting to note that the four women actors listed in the playbill were related to male  members of the cast as wife or daughter. Women had appeared on the stage in England since 1629 but this was still considered not quite respectable for single women in the early nineteenth century.

Further References

Parkinson, R., Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 30

Penzance Georgian Theatre Playbills 

Penzance Georgian Theatre 

The Cornish parliamentary reform movement