ABSTRACT
However short-lived its glory days were destined to be, in November 1671 the Dorset Garden Theatre and its occupants were well-placed to anticipate a bright future. The costliness and magnificence of the new playhouse was one of its most important selling points, and the Duke’s Company could now offer spectacular performances on a par with those at the rival Bridges Street, an advantage that promised to help the younger, less established troupe compete effectively with the more experienced King’s Men. The opening of Dorset Garden represented a fulfillment of the Duke’s Company’s revised ambitions under its post-Davenant managers, Thomas Betterton and Henry Harris, 1 and would substantially advance the position of machine technology and diegetic supernaturalism that had been developing in the London theatres since the early 1660s—ultimately effecting a reversal in the relative positions of the Duke’s and King’s players with regard to the employment of theatrical spectacle.
