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Benson in London

 This week I've been concentrating on the year 1890 for which I had very few database entries. Generally speaking, my research is centred on Benson's touring to the provinces but sometimes it is necessary to look at the bigger picture and see how the two theatrical centres of activity of London and Stratford each had an impact on his work.    Although not a good businessman, Benson - or his management team - seem to have had a canny understanding of the principal of the USP (unique selling-point)  and so, in the early years of the Company, advertisements would often point out that the props and scenery - and indeed the actors Benson toured with - were 'the Globe Company'.  

There have been three theatres of that name in London, the most recent, of course, being the replica of Shakespeare’s theatre, created by actor Sam Wanamaker which opened in 1997.  The other Globe Theatre – in Shaftesbury Avenue – changed its name to the Gielgud  in 1994, partly to avoid any confusion with the South Bank Globe project.  However, the Globe Theatre that Benson leased in 1889 was at the end of the Aldwych on the site now occupied by BBC Bush house.  A large theatre with a capacity of 1,5000, it backed onto the Opera Comique and the initially the wall between the two theatres was allegedly so thin that noise from one could be heard in the other!

Perhaps the obvious most attraction of the Globe for Benson was the name, with its automatic association with Shakespeare: the theatre's act-drop portrayed a image of Stratford upon Avon. Benson appears to have made a popular success of this season: opening on the 19^th of December with his new production of Midsummer Night’s Dream, he was still performing the play to audiences the week beginning April 21^st.  The Dundee Courier recorded the one hundredth performance of the play and commented on the twice weekly matinees and the demand for seats.

Benson hated long runs of a single play, believing that they led to stale and lifeless performances.  To combat this, he changed the programme for Thursday and Friday evenings, giving first The Taming of the Shrew, then Hamlet and finally Othello.  The London press were cautious in their praise, admiring the intention - if not always the execution - of the season. However, Dream  seems to have been a success with audiences, so much so that the production would form the back-bone of the Benson touring rep for many years.

Benson left London in May 1890 to return to  provincial touring, having made at least a dint in the stranglehold of the established London management over Shakespeare and he had also shown that there was an audience for the rather neglected 'fairy play'.  Beerbohm Tree's famous production of the play - complete with live rabbits -wouldn't make an appearance until ten years later, beating Benson's 'century' of performances by a narrow margin.  The Globe Theatre was demolished in 1902 to make way for the restructured Aldwych.  

Side entrance in Newcastle Street.