ABSTRACT
When Britain’s Prime Minister Robert Walpole learned that an obscene play satirizing the Royal Family and other notables was about to be produced in London, he persuaded Parliament to impose government control over the theatres. The Licensing Act of 1737 required the licensing of theatres and gave the Lord Chamberlain the power to censor and even ban plays. As a result of the Act, only two theatres, Drury Lane and Covent Garden, were granted patents to produce plays in London. Works that commented on the great political issues of the day, notably the American Revolutionary War, were effectively banned from the stage. The Licensing Act steered the theatre away from public concerns and toward private themes such as courtship and marriage, and to the discussion of moral and social issues.
