Welsh Journals

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SOME WELSH THEATRES, 1844-1870 In 1844, there were buildings used as playhouses at Aberystwyth, Abergavenny, Brecon, Carmarthen, Merthyr, Monmouth and Wrexham. They were opened occasionally for performances by the strolling companies that clung to the old traditions. At Aberystwyth, Abergavenny, Brecon, Carmarthen and Wrexham, the gentry were still their main supporters. Yet very little theatrical activity took place in these towns between 1855 and 1865. The old circuits had broken down; religious opposition was strong. An examination of the history of each theatre will reveal that, soon, the old playhouses had to be given up, and the towns to depend for their entertainment on the visits of portable theatres or touring companies. ABERYSTWYTH After Fenton's seasons at Aberystwyth between 1843 and 1845,1 the theatre remained unoccupied for seven years. 'The want of rational amusement,' it was said, 'is much felt in the town.2' The playhouse was redecorated and opened in September, 1852, by a company that came from Ludlow and was managed by Paunceford and Windsor. The month's season was successful enough to make Windsor return in August 1853 and 1854. The Earl and Countess of Lisburne as well as the local member of Parliament, Colonel Powell, bespoke performances.3 There is no further mention of theatricals at Aberystwyth until 1865. The Era described the state of affairs in the town: Visitors from all parts of the kingdom are to be met with here, and most numerous are the 'English foreigners', as they are called by the residents. Neither the limited amount of accommodation which the place can at present afford, nor the exorbitant rapacity of the lodging house keepers is proof against the natural attractions of the 'Brighton of Wales'. Nothing is so repugnant to the Methodistical mind of this portion of the Principality as the idea of 'theatricals', with the exception of Roman Catholicism, which is held to be the abomin- ation of abominations. Even to read a passage from one of Shakespeare's plays is a vicious sin, of which the offender can be expurgated only by the deep contrition of probable hypocrisy. The influx of the English, however, appears to be reforming our mental constitution; and it was only on Tuesday evening last that the Methodist class aimed a 'stunning' blow at their own intolerance, by giving, in the Temperance Hall-that temple of narrow-minded teaching- an entertainment semi-dramatic, semi-operatic. A few Church people took part in the performance, but it was chiefly confined to the Dissenters of the town. Several pieces from Shakespeare were read with considerable effect, and selections from the operas were rendered with much creditable skill3. The resort was regularly visited, between July 1867 and October 1870, by Philip Hannan's company. They played at the Assembly Rooms and received some influential patronage. 'Mr. Hannan is evidently gaining the good opinion and the confidence of the gentry, many of whom, on Tuesday, exerted themselves on his 1 See the present writer's The English Theatre In Wales, p. 133; and The Era, 12/10/1845. 2 Carmarthen Journal, 9/9/1852. 3 The Cambrian, 13/8/1852; 30/9/53; Peter Davey's MS. 'Theatrical History of Wales', p. 13. 4 The Era, 29/7/1866,