The stage mutiny [graphic].

"Satire on the dispute between the managers of the Drury Lane Theatre and its players portrayed as if on a stage with heavy curtains drawn up above and on the right. In the centre, Theophilus Cibber stands in a swaggering pose in his role as Pistol (Henry IV and V) and behind him, on the left-hand side of the stage, a group of actors among whom are Benjamin Johnson as Testimony (in the play, Sir Courtly Nice), Miller as a runner holding a short stick, Benjamin Griffin in a large wig and three-cornered hat, Harper as Falstaff holding a sword twisted into a spiral, Heron holding a banner lettered "Liberty & property", and William Mills wearing a Roman helmet with a huge plume. This group confronts John Highmore who holds a scroll lettered "it cost £6000" (referring to the price of his share of the patent for the Theatre); to the left an actor without coat or wig flourishes a wooden sword. Behind Highmore, stand two women: to the right, weeping, Hester Booth, widow of the former patentee who died on 10 May 1733, and, holding a banner lettered "We'l starve em out", Mary Wilks who had inherited her husband's share of the patent the previous year. In front of the curtain on the extreme right sits Colley Cibber, wearing a laurel wreath and holding money bags, smiling as he gestures towards Highmore who had bought his share of the patent. Behind the curtain can be glimpsed the audience with asses' ears and staves. At the back of the scene is a narrow street with the sign of the Rose on which sits a monkey holding a flag lettered, "I am a Gentleman" (quoting Highmore); crowds throng the street and people wave from the roof and windows of the building on the left."--British Museum catalogue