Welsh Journals

A Tontine, a Theatre and its Thespians: the Swansea Theatre, 1805 to 1899 by Glenys Bridges and Sandra Thomas Swansea, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, had the basic attractions of a sea-side resort pleasant walks, a beach with bathing machines and a recently erected bathing house but it lacked the requisite genteel places of entertainment namely a modern theatre and assembly rooms, facilities considered essential for civilised society. Once magisterial objections had been overcome, not only to theatricals but to any general improvements to amenities which would enhance the town's reputation as a resort, a group of influential businessmen, local aristocrats and gentry banded together to form a tontine with the intention of using its subscriptions to fund the building of a theatre and public rooms. On 31st July 1805 the Corporation leased a piece of waste ground in Goat Street to Thomas Wyndham Thomas, Mansel Talbot and John Llewellyn (as trustees of the newly formed Swansea Tontine Society) at an annual rental of two guineas on which to build a theatre. An agreement was made on 31st October 1805 for the erection of a theatre and in September 1806 the Goat Street lease was transferred to the Tontine Society itself.2 A possible site on the Burrows was earmarked for the assembly rooms, a develop- ment which was in fact to be delayed for some years. The rules of the tontine were complex. Each share cost £ 10 and was held for the life of one person (the nominee). Dividends were paid during that life only, for which reason shareholders tended to choose children or young persons with a high life expectancy as nominees. No change of nominee was allowed although shares could be traded or inherited. Death of a nominee meant forfeiture of the share, with a resultant increase in the dividends of surviving investors. An extant manuscript register of shareholders lists the original subscribers and their nominees and details later share transfers. Little is known about the actual construction of the theatre although contemporary playbills advertise prices for admission to boxes, pit and a gallery. Actual building costs are unknown but the original subscribers to the Swansea Theatre Tontine contributed approximately £ 3000.5 (Almost a hundred years later the building costs for the Empire Theatre in Oxford Street were given as £ 40,000.) Before the completion of the building Andrew Cherry was appointed the theatre's first actor/manager. He learned his craft in the theatres of Chester, Dublin and Manchester before starring in several Drury Lane comedies. His plays had been produced in