The Covent Garden Theatre, or Pasquin Turn'd Drawcansir — John Shaqi
The Covent Garden Theatre, or Pasquin Turn'd DrawcansirMacklin, Charles
General
The Covent Garden Theatre, or Pasquin Turn'd Drawcansir
Macklin, Charles
English drama
In this ambitious attempt to list all the follies of his age, Macklin
employs the popular technique of eighteenth-century plays such as
Fielding's _The Author's Farce_--the play appears to be writing itself
on the stage. He displays all the tricks of satire--exaggeratedly ironic
praise, allegorical names (Miss Giggle, Miss Brilliant, Miss Bashfull),
stock characters of satire (Pasquin, Marforio, Hydra, Drawcansir), lists
of offenses, parodies of polite conversation reminiscent of Swift, and
constant topical references: to the Robin Hood Society to which little
Bob Smart belongs; to Mother Midnight; to playwrights (Fielding, Foote,
Woodward, Cibber, and himself); to contemporary theatrical taste
(Pantomime, Delaval's _Othello_ which Macklin himself had coached,
Harlequins, Masquerades, and various theatrical tricks); to Critics
(Bonnell Thornton, who later reviewed this afterpiece, is called
Termagent since Thornton's pseudonym was "Roxana Termagent"; John Hill
is referred to as the "Inspector" of the _Daily Advertiser_; and
Fielding is called Sir Alexander Drawcansir). The farce abounds in these
topical references, from Pasquin's opening invocation to Lucian,
"O thou, who first explored and dared to laugh at Public Folly," to its
closing lecture against Sharpers like Count Hunt Bubble where the
obvious allusions to Section III on Gaming of Fielding's _Enquiry_ ...
are applauded by Solomon Common Sense, the voice of Reason.
This vast parade of fashions and foibles with frequent thinly veiled
references to individuals may explain the numerous Licenser's marks on
the manuscript. If all the marked lines were omitted, it is small wonder
that this afterpiece was performed only once. Dramatic satire, without
plot, is difficult to sustain even in farce, and if the marked lines
were cut, there was little left to recommend the play. It is not
surprizing that the Licenser objected to such passages as the
description of Miss Giggle's "nudities," but his frequent objections
to topical and personal references took all the bite out of Macklin's
satire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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