| Chapter 2: | Debut |
|
|
because the boy offered to accompany Durang and carry his bag to his parents’ home. Having left Philadelphia secretly, Durang was anxious about his return:
Back in Philadelphia, Durang followed his passion for theater. His father did not interfere. Durang records the presence at the Southwark of the American Company, recently returned from Jamaica where they sat out the Revolutionary War, and now called the “Old” American Company (hereafter, the OAC). Although Philadelphia’s theater audience included such leaders of government and society as George Washington, theatrical performances were still illegal in the city and anti-theater vigilantes were alert.55 To evade the laws but satisfy the clientele, Lewis Hallam Jr. shrouded his productions as “lectures,” “monodies,” “poetical addresses,” “pantomimical fêtes,” or “concerts.” Advertisements, attempting to draw audiences but deflect opposition, were vague, avoiding names of works and performers. Hallam’s troupe played Philadelphia from April to June 1784 and then returned in December, playing into July 1785.
The nature of the OAC’s veiled performances can be somewhat gleaned from “The Lecture on Heads,” a much-repeated production in early American theater. Created by English author George Alexander Stevens, it premiered in London in 1764. David Douglass, who managed the London/American Company before Lewis Hallam Jr., presented it on American shores because a “lecture” would associate theater with education, a positive value in the colonies and new nation. “The Lecture on Heads” was a flexible “medley” featuring historical themes (i.e., Alexander the Great, a lecture on the “Origin of Ladies Bonnets”), fairyland characters (i.e., Riding Hood), ethnic types (Cherokee, Englishman,