Theatre and Associational Life in Northern England ca. 1760 to 1815

This thesis examines how actors engaged with the public, both inside and outside the playhouse, in the North of England during the late Georgian period. The aim is to better understand theatre’s role in the region during this time of remarkable change. We know relatively little about the place of northern English theatre in eighteenth-century cultural, political, and intellectual life. The research therefore addresses this historiographical gap, proposing that theatre and its practitioners played a more significant role than previously recognized. The provincial player has long been considered a marginal figure with little influence over regional society; however, what emerges from the research is the actor as a local cultural broker who helped to circulate and generate new ideas in the North. Despite their marginal social status, the stage allowed actors a public voice and they used their capacity for rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, to promote local improvement. Actors took their civic responsibilities seriously and often stepped in to fill gaps in the social fabric by supporting the foundation of schools, libraries and dispensaries. They were also highly sociable, always on the move and their profession and cultural capital allowed them access to a variety of people in a wide range of social settings. This makes them an excellent lens through which to view the contours of eighteenth-century regional society. Unfortunately, due to their nomadic lifestyle, actors left few records behind; however, by adopting an approach that concentrates on sociability and networks of association, it has been possible to turn this methodological challenge to an advantage. To find out more about their presence in the theatrical landscape it has been necessary to seek out previously unexamined archives and in reclaiming this lost figure of the provincial player, the research reveals new insights that contribute to late-Enlightenment study, particularly regarding freemasonry, abolition and print culture.