What is the message
of these two efforts in mere pecuniary terms?
Charles Kean may be regarded as the founder of the modern spectacular
system, though it had some precedents, and has been developed since
his day. Charles Kean, between 1851 and 1859, persistently endeavoured
by prodigal and brilliant display to make the production of
Shakespeare an enterprise of profit at the Princess's Theatre, London.
The scheme proved pecuniarily disastrous.
Subsequently Kean's mantle was assumed by the late Sir Henry Irving,
the greatest of recent actors and stage-managers, who in many regards
conferred incalculable benefits on the theatre-going public and on the
theatrical profession. Throughout the last quarter of the last
century, Irving gave the spectacular and scenic system in the
production of Shakespeare every advantage that it could derive from
munificent expenditure and the co-operation of highly endowed artists.
He could justly claim a finer artistic sentiment and a higher
histrionic capacity than Charles Kean possessed. Yet Irving announced,
not long before his death, that he lost on his Shakespearean
productions a hundred thousand pounds. Sir Henry added:
The enormous cost of a Shakespearean production on the
liberal and elaborate scale which the public is now
accustomed to expect makes it almost impossible for any
manager--I don't care who it is--to pursue a continuous
policy of Shakespeare for many years with any hope of profit
in the long run.
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