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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2009
The National Drama was a nineteenth-century dramatic genre unique to Scotland, dealing with Scottish characters in Scottish settings. It has been neglected this century by scholars of theatre and of Scottish history in general. This is a curious oversight given the importance of the National Drama in the development of the Scottish theatre and to the image of Scotland as a nation at home and abroad. The omission may have been the result of a too close association with Sir Walter Scott in the minds of many for whom the phrase ‘High Tory Romanticism’ summed up Scott's career and influence. But, the National Drama is worthy of fresh consideration because, although it is true that dramatizations of some of Scott's Scottish works formed the core of the national repertoire, the National Drama comprised a wide variety of pieces from a range of sources and its influence over the Scottish theatre was considerable.
1. For stereotyped Scots, see for example:
i) Macklin, C.The Man of the WorldGoogle Scholar (SirMac-sycophant, Pertinax), Love-a-la-ModeGoogle Scholar (Sir Archy Macsarcasm)
ii) Cumberland, R.The Fashionable Love, or the Faithful Scotsman (Colin Macleod)Google Scholar
iii) Reed, J.The Register OfficeGoogle Scholar (Macintosh, Donald – usually seenin Donald Macintosh's Travels from Aberdeen to London).Google Scholar
2. Rob Roy Macgregor; or, Auld Lang Syne possibly by W. H. Murray. A revised version of an adaptation by Isaac Pocock. First performed at the Edinburgh Theatre Royal on 15 February 1819.
3. Terry, D., Guy Mannering; or, The Gipsey's Prophecy, first performed at Covent Garden on 12 03 1816.Google Scholar
4. The Scotsman 20 02 1816 p. 62.Google Scholar
5. The Dundee Courier and Advertiser 5 November 1819 p. 5 col. aGoogle Scholar
6. Glasgow Prince's Theatre Royal, West Nile St.12 February 1852. Mackay was a visiting guest artist and the audience members were each given a free copy of the Edinburgh Theatre Royal bill for 27 August 1822, the night Rob Roy was played for George IV.
7. See The Christian Observer No. 22 (1822) p.158.Google Scholar Quoted in Gordon, Catherine “The Illustration of Sir Walter Scott: Nineteenth-Century Enthusiasm and Adaptation.” p. 298Journal of the Warburg & Courtauld Institute Vol. 34 (1971) pp. 300–17. See also below note (25).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Dibdin, S. C., Annals of the Edinburgh Stage, Edinburgh, 1888.Google Scholar
9. Lawson, R., The Story of the Scots Stage, Paisley, 1917.Google Scholar
10. Edinburgh Dramatic Review Vol. 4, no. 172 6 May 1832 p. 92.Google Scholar
10a. The Lord Chamberlain's Office refused to licence a play by Duval, , The Wanderer, or the Rights of HospitalityGoogle Scholar, which dealt with Bonnie Prince Charlie's flight after Culloden. On 27 January 1819 it played at the Edinburgh Theatre Royal. The bill explained at length exactly why it had been reset in sixteenth-century Sweden.
11. Bell, Barbara A. E., ‘Nineteenth-century Stage Adaptations of the Works of Sir Walter Scott on the Scottish Stage: 1810–1900’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Glasgow University, 1991).Google Scholar
12. Ryder and his counsel seem to have accepted that he had been fairly caught playing Richard III as The Battle of Bosworth Field.
13. An undated bill held in the Dundee Central Library.
14. A small company based around a family named Fraser toured the Scottish Borders in 1819–20. On 29 October 1819 at the Theatre, Masons' Lodge, Selkirk they performed the ‘national new play’ of Guy Mannering.Google Scholar A juvenile, Master Fraser, played the tenor role of Henry Bertram. In Galashiels, on 12 01 1820Google Scholar at the Theatre, the company presented the “National New Play” of Rob Roy or, Auld Lang SyneGoogle Scholar, the equivalent tenor role was taken by MrsHay, . Rob RoyGoogle Scholar needed fewer female singers than Guy Mannering freeing Mrs. Hay to play Francis Osbaldiston.
15. See for example:
i) 8 Nov. 1831 Edinburgh Theatre Royal—opening of season
ii) 11 Aug. 1837 Dundee, Scott's Royal Shakespearian Pantheon opens season/theatre (portable theatre)
iii) 29 Aug. 1842 Edinburgh Theatre Royal—opens Summer season
iv) 11 Apr. 1854 Aberdeen Theatre Royal—opens season
v) 16 Dec. 1863 Glasgow Theatre Royal, Dunlop St.—opens season
15a. A good example of Caledonian, Covent Garden was Dark Donald, The Idiot of the Cliff; or The Dog of Loch LomondGoogle Scholar, written by Atkyns, S. for ‘Mr. Abel’ and his dog ‘Hector’. Nicoll, Vol. 4. p. 257.Google Scholar
16. See for example:
i) Edinburgh, Caledonian Theatre, 2 April 1823 Main piece is from The Pirate Benefit of Box-book and House Keeper and minor actress
ii) Aberdeen Theatre Royal, 15 Feb. 1842 Main piece is from The Highland Widow Benefit of the Doorkeepers
iii) Aberdeen Theatre Royal, 9 May 1843 Main piece is from The Lady of the Lake Benefit of the Doorkeepers
iv) Edinburgh Theatre Royal, 14 May 1850 Main piece is from Rob Roy Benefit of the Stage Manager (the S. M. repeated this on 11 Oct. 1850 with the addition of a supporting piece from The Two Drovers.)
v) Edinburgh Queen's Theatre and Opera House, 2 June 1856 Main piece is from The Heart of Mid-Lothian Benefit of W. Channing(Scenic Artist)—his first ‘appeal’ in the new theatre. New and local scenery painted by him.
17. See for example:
i) Perth Theatre Royal, 12 Sep. 1826 Main piece is from The Heart of Mid-Lothian Charity benefit for “the distress'd labouring classes.”
ii) Glasgow Prince's Theatre Royal, West Nile St. 24 March 1851 Main piece is from Guy Mannering Charity benefit for the families and relatives of victims of the Victoria Pit Disaster, Nitshill.
iii) Glasgow Theatre Royal, Hope St. 10 Feb. 1876 Main piece is from Rob Roy Amateur benefit for Local Charities—the Volunteer Officers' Dramatic Society.
18. See for example:
i) Perth Theatre Royal 11 Sep. 1826 Main piece is from The Abbot (Mary Stuart) Patronage of the Gaelic Society of Perthshire
ii) Edinburgh Theatre Royal 27 March 1829 Main piece is from Rob Roy Patronage of the Lady Patronesses of the Caledonian Fancy Ball
iii) Kelso, Theatre 15 Oct. 1830 Supporting piece is from The Two Drovers. Patronage of the Border Lodge of Free Gardeners on which occasion the theatre was ‘tastefully decorated with flowers’.
iv) Aberdeen, Theatre 1 March 1842 Supporting piece is from The Two Drovers. Patronage of the Aberdeen Junior Incorporated Trades.
v) Edinburgh Adelphi Theatre 15 Oct. 1845 Main piece is from The Lady of the Lake. Patronage of the Edinburgh Golf Clubs.
19. Unidentified press clipping in the Dundee Central Library.
20. Edinburgh Dramatic Review, Vol. 3, No.113, 31 03 1825 p. 449.Google Scholar
21. Glasgow Evening Times ‘Glover Memoirs’, 26 12 1889 p. 4.Google Scholar Edmund Glover was an enthusiastic producer of the national repertoire. In 1850 at the Prince's Theatre Royal, West Nile St.there was a short run of Gilderoy. On 19 11 1850Google Scholar the bill announced that the performance would conclude with
the GRAND COMBAT TABLEAU, supported by FORTY AUXILIARIES—the whole forming one of the most complete illusions of a desperate Highland conflict ever presented to the public.
22. Boucicault, D., The Trial of Effie Deans first performed in Britain at Astley's Theatre London on 26 01 1863.Google Scholar
23. Hazlewood, C. H., Jeanie Deans; or, the Sisters of St. Leonard 's first performed at the Standard Theatre London on 20 09 1862.Google Scholar
24. Ferguson, W., Scotland 1689 to the Present The Edinburgh History of Scotland Vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1987).Google Scholar
25. James, Louis in Fiction for the Working Man (London, 1963)Google Scholar states that ‘the main impact of Scott on the lower classes came through the numerous and popular dramatizations of his work’,(p. 88)Google Scholar On the other hand Coleman Parsons writes,
The judgement is much more applicable to chapbooks ranging in price from one to six pennies, available in towns and, at least in the cheaper issues, wherever the chapman travelled. (p. 189)
Parsons, Coleman Oscar, ‘Chapbook Versions of the Waverley Novels’, Studies in Scottish Literature, Vol. 3, No. 4 (1966), pp. 189–220.Google Scholar
Given the generally higher rates of adult literacy in Scotland during the period Parsons' argument might seem the stronger one. However, see above note 11 pp. 118–25 for an account of chapbooks taken from the dramatizations rather than from the novel originals.
