Amateur Theatre in Georgian England
Evelyn Howe takes the reader on a visit to private play-houses and their players during the later eighteenth century.
Abundant leisure can be a dreaded source of boredom. Many eighteenth century Englishmen, unless they were remodelling their houses or landscaping their grounds, saw the end of the London season as the beginning of dreary months of forced politeness to dull country neighbours, and pretended interest in the well-being of their livestock while wondering if the bailiff was as honest as he sounded. Little but hunting offered relief.