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Charlotte the Play
Dateline: 30th October, 2005
Last week Philip Fisher reviewed Kathryn Shevelow's
book Charlotte about Charlotte Charke, daughter of Colley Cibber
and collaborator with Henry Fielding. This led to an email from playwright
Frederic Mohr who drew my attention to his play Acting Up, or Tales
of a Troublesome Trouper, which is a one-woman play about the same
lady - if lady is the right word!
It premiered in 1997 at the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow as part of
the Glasgow Mayfest with no less an actress than Maureen Beattie. "Maureen
was to revive it at the Fringe in the Assembly Rooms," he says,
"when the Royal Shakespeare made her an offer she felt she could
not refuse!"
It is, he adds, "about the determination of actors to keep going
and keep cheerful", but, in fact, it is more than that: it also
gives us a picture of this fascinating character and an insight into
the life of an actress at the time.
What I did not know was that somewhere just past St Mary le Bone
you become half the actor you were in London. If you're not performing
in London, or performing from London, you are suspect, to say the
least, and, if the evidence is that you are a player of talent, then
the fault must be in your character
To be on the road is to be a rogue and a vagabond, therefore at the
mercy of magistrates, parish clerks, tavern lawyers, a variety of
blood-sucking insects; and Touring Theatrical Managers. As sheep are
to shepherds so are we to the managers. We graze a season at their
bidding and then we're fleeced.
And how were they fleeced?
There are usually 24 shares in a troupe of players. The manager takes
five. If he's an actor too, he gets another one and another four for
providing the scenery. Through his actress wife and daughter he controls
another two. That's half the shares and the cast is, so far, only
three. Yet to find; a villain, a comedian, two utility gentlemen and
ladies and still you're limited to what plays you do, even doubling
up. That's nine shares required for actors, and the manager will need
at least another three for contingencies.
At the end of the performance the takings are shared out, 15 for
the management, scenery and contingencies and 9 for the actors. Ah,
but there are deductions for paper, for candles, for ale and co-operation,
for stable and fodder for the horse. Now that's all been paid out
by the management so it's the management that's reimbursed. Naturally!
What's left is divided by the number of actors, for we are all equal
on the road, the leading man with 20 plays in his head and the apprentice
mummer yet to master one. From that share or part of share, you have
to find your food and lodging, maintain your wardrobe and your wigs
and try to save for the snowy days the Cotswolds always keep in their
repertoire.
It's a fascinating piece. Time for a revival, perhaps?
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