"A struggling crowd, partly within and partly without the pit door, a spiked gateway, of Drury Lane Theatre. Men, respectably dressed but of plebeian appearance, stand in the foreground on the outskirts of the crowd or fight their way in, some with sticks. There are a few women; one who has fainted but is in an erect position owing to the crowd, is being revived with smelling-salts. A man is vomiting. In the foreground two lady's hats, the ribbons partly torn off, lie on the ground with shoes and the broken fragments of a shoe-buckle. In the background two ladies and a man are passing through a narrow door into the theatre itself; through the doorway is seen a section of an upper gallery and boxes below it, both crowded. On the exterior wall, above the heads of the crowd, is a playbill ..."--British Museum online catalogue, description of the related print
Alternative Title:
Porte du parterre
Description:
Title from related print, which bears both the English title "The pit door" and the French title "La porte du parterre"., Unsigned and undated; artist attribution and approximate date from those assigned to the related print in the British Museum catalogue. See no. 6769 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 6., Inscribed on poster in upper center portion of image: By Command of their MAJESTIES. At the Theatre Royal Drury Lane The Grecian Daughter And Euphrasia Mrs Siddons To which will be added The Devil to Pay Tomorrow the Tragedy of Hamlet HAMLET by MR KEMBLE., and Laid down on wove paper with watermark "B. E. & S."
Subject (Geographic):
England and London.
Subject (Name):
Kemble, John Philip, 1757-1823., Siddons, Sarah, 1755-1831., and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (London, England),
Subject (Topic):
Theaters, Crowds, Gates, Doors & doorways, Vomiting, Loss of consciousness, and Signs (Notices)
Caption title., A playbill., For further information, consult library staff., and Annotation on verso: "A great and overflowing audience from box pit and galleries /2 price at 5 to 9 tragedy over 5 past 10 and all concluded by a /4[?] feast eleven o'clock with Mr Roberts at Piazza Pit Room."
Publisher:
E. Macleish, printer, 2, Bow-Street, London
Subject (Name):
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616., Hoare, Prince, 1755-1834., and Kemble, John Philip, 1757-1823.