ABSTRACT
In 1737 Robert Walpole’s government passed the Theatre Licensing Act, and at a stroke brought to an end the burgeoning theatrical culture and achievements of Betterton and Congreve, Centlivre and Oldfield, The Beggar’s Opera, Harlequin and the whole historical register. The play shows Mortimer/Walpole guilty of bribery, fixing juries, using execution as a political weapon and even attempting rape. Walpole, as determined a centrist as most Prime Ministers, wanted censorship to remain with the Lord Chamberlain. While Walpole was busy with the Excise Bill and the putative Gin Act, the theatre’s unruliness grew, and in 1735 the Whig MP, Sir John Barnard, introduced a Bill to Parliament intended to tame it. He proposed to limit the number of theatres in London to two and to give greater powers of censorship to local magistrates. The effects on the theatre were devastating and long-lasting.
