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Untitled Article
woefull y deficient , that nothing but an enormous rate of profit could ever enable them to keep their funds in advance of their expenses . But the increased gain which such a monopoly would give them , would be obtained only by the ruin of a large number of actors and the consequently diminished pleasures of a large
portion of the play-going community . The fact is , that the large theatres are injudicious contrivances for performing badly numerous branches of the drama ; and the smaller theatres , which only aim at doing one thing , do it so much better , that when the market is open to competition they carry away all the custom . The monopoly which served to keep the supply of theatrical
entertainment beneath the demand for it , was the cause that the patent theatres were built of so large a size that not above one half of the audience could hear or see distinctly . The monopoly was the cause that a large capital was employed in extra scenery and other property for a large variety of performances . The monopoly was the cause that a treble company of actors were usually kept
on the establishment , or that actors who were expected to play threefold characters , and consequently to play all badly alike ,, were paid large salaries . The monopoly , which yielded large profits , was the cause of a wasteful expenditure in carrying on the concern , and which could not have been kept up had the audience possessed a choice , as they were exceedingly badly served in
consequence of His Majesty ' s servants' having more to do than they were capable of . Had the large theatres been establishments for issuing forth manufactured goods , it is clear , that even without a monopoly they might have been carried on to greater advantage than smaller ones , but the commodity they dealt in was seeing and hearing , and consequently the supply they could yield was
limited by space . Beyond a certain distance the article they dealt in was deteriorated , yet notwithstanding all their customers had to pay at the same rate . Consequently , so soon as the smaller theatres were opened , and proffered their commodities at a lower rate of payment , where all the audience were treated alike ,
could all hear and see , and where for the most part the acting was quite as good as that of the larger theatres , the larger portion of the play-goers were at once taken up by the new establishments , and the old ones , being still saddled with their heavy expenditure , so soon as their income was diminished fell in ruin . And
thereupon the cry was raised of the * decline of the stage . ' The stage , the stages of the large theatres , have declined ; they are unfitted for the purposes they were intended to serve , they are fit for nothing but spectacle , and although their proprietors endeavour to
uphold them by means of persecuting the minors , it will be altogether in vain . The public have come to the conclusion that all monopolies are mischievous , and either with or without the concurrence of the legislature they will be swept away . But notwithstanding the fact that the decline of the profits Qf
Untitled Article
552 On Theatrical Reform .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1833, page 552, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2620/page/40/
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