York Guides

On 3 January, 1765, Baker opened a new theatre, larger than the previous one - Charles Beecher Hogan has estimated that its capacity was about 5508 - and on the same site. It was described in the York Courant on 8 January as 'by far the most spacious in Great Britain, Drury Lane and Covent Garden excepted, and for Convenience and Elegance it is thought to be equal, if not superior, to either of them'. This new theatre had an extra tier; the playbills record that there were now boxes, available at a charge of 2s. 6d. and charges elsewhere were, 2s. Od. for the pit, Is. 6d. for the first gallery and Is. Od. for the upper gallery.

In the summer of 1765 Wilkinson played in Baker's circuit company in Newcastle during the Race and Assize Weeks, and then in York in August. The York Races were, he said, 'in the year 1765 ... in their greatest glory'.'Baker treated Wilkinson 'as a son' 10but the York audience was not so fond of him. In his Memoirs he gave an account of how demanding an 18th century audience could be. His proposed performance of The Author was stopped because a Mr Aprice complained that it was a satire of his father; The Provok'd Wife- was stopped because the ladies considered it indecent; Love a la Mode failed because Squire Groom was taken to be a satire on 'the gentlemen of the turf',11 and this was Race Week; his performer of Barber in The Upholsterer failed because it was usually played by the York comedian, James Robertson; and the Apprentice because it was usually played by Bridge Frodsham, 'the York Garrick'.12

Actors considered themselves to 'own' the parts they regularly played and, when applying to join a company, would present the manager with a list of the parts 'in their possession', acquiring others in new plays in the course of their stay with a company. The major roles were possessions jealously guarded by performers, and any trespassing on another's right to a part was the cause of heated arguments. This system of 'possession of parts' had advantages in a company with a large repertoire, as at York. Performers were constantly having to learn new parts in new plays, and having to change roles in stock plays would only have added to the amount they had to memorise. But possession of parts also meant that actors could become complacent, a criticism Wilkinson levelled at Bridge Frodsham in his Memoirs," where he told of Frodsham's visit to Garrick. Frodsham was the'leading actor of the York company, the local favourite. Wilkinson wrote that 'he was naturally a good actor' but said 'he was not only young and vain, but self-opinionated to a superabundant degree'. Once when in London, Frodsham sent his card - 'Mr Frodsham of York' - to Garrick, who assumed that he wanted to audition to join the Drury Lane company. He invited Frodsham to breakfast and asked his opinion of his performance of Sir John Brute in Vanburgh's The Provok'd Wife. Wilkinson reported Garrick as being 'greatly piqued, astonished and surprised' by Frodsham who, having praised his performance of Brute, went on to criticise his performance of Hamlet:

I have been told Hamlet, Mr Garrick, is one of your first characters; but I must say, I flatter myself I play it almost as well.

He proceeded to demonstrate.

When Frodsham had finished Hamlet's first speech, and without stop, To be or not to be & c. Garrick said, "Well, hey now ! hey ! you have a smattering, but you want a little of my forming; and really in some passages you have acquired tones I do not by any means approve." Frodsham tartly replied, "Tones, Mr Garrick! to be sure I have tones, but you are not familiarized to them. I have seen you act twice, Hamlet the first, and I thought you had some odd tones, and they were not quite agreeable to me on the first hearing, but I dare say I should soon be reconciled to them."

And this to the man generally acknowledged to be the greatest actor of the century. The interview closed with Garrick offering Frodsham the opportunity to audition - in front of an audience, in a part of his own choice, as was usual - but he refused:

I would not abandon or relinquish the happiness I enjoy in Yorkshire for the first terms your great and grand city of London could afford.

Wilkinson's story of Frodsham's meeting with Garrick points to the fact that some actors preferred the security of an engagement with a provincial circuit company, which provided all year round employment and the opportunity of local adulation, rather than the risks entailed by joining the Covent Garden or Drury Lane companies. In the provinces, it was possible to outshine one's fellow actors, it was possible to De a local star; in London, one was competing with the most talented from throughout the country and, the competition being the greater, stood less chance of playing the leading parts. It was, however, this very lack of competition which Wilkinson saw as sometimes being stultifying in the performances of those provincial players who were not lured to London. Frodsham, he thought, would have benefited from seeing, working with and learning from great actors. Wilkinson was later to provide opportunities for members of his company to improve by appearing with great performers, when he began engaging London stars to appear with the York company for short seasons, mostly during the summer Assize and Race Weeks. But, ironically, this innovation may be seen as the beginning of the decline of the stock company, the mainstay of the circuit.