Synopsis
In 1737, Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones, and scourge of Walpole’s corrupt parliament, suddenly re-joined the establishment. London’s most infamous libertine became a Magistrate outlawing plays and players. But at what cost, to himself and to those who had loved and admired him?

Outline
The play centres on the leading comedians and performers of the Little Theatre at the Haymarket (affectionately known as Mr Fielding’s Scandal-Shop). It’s set during the last season at the Haymarket in the 1730s, when wild success is brought crashing down into disaster with dire personal consequences for the stars themselves, as well as repercussions that will be felt for the next 200 years.

The disaster was Prime Minister Walpole’s Licensing Act 1737 which closed down all the theatres, bar Covent Garden and Drury Lane and put in place massive censorship after Walpole read the script of a particularly outrageous satire anonymously written The Golden Rump. The play was never produced but Walpole read portions of it out to the House of Commons and used it to shock them into passing his proposed Bill

And at the heart of the story is both a mystery and a betrayal – was there a traitor from within the Haymarket company itself, a co-conspirator with the government, who helped bring about the gagging and destruction not only of the Haymarket but of the entire English theatre?

Writer
Elizabeth Kuti’s delightful Radio Drama debut was an Afternoon Play, May Child, starring Patricia Routledge (txm 05.07.2004). She was a member of the radio drama group Sparks in 2002. She won the BBC Northern Ireland Stewart Parker radio drama bursary and A Susan Smith Blackburn prize for her first stage play Treehouses produced at The Peacock Theatre, Dublin (2000) and later at the Northcote Theatre, Exeter (2001). She has also written Whispers which successfully completed Acts IV & V of Frances Sheridan’s play A Trip to Bath. (Toured Ireland and Edinburgh Festival 1999). Elizabeth is currently under commission to Rough Magic Theatre Co, Dublin and Northcote Theatre, Exeter. Her new play The Sugar Wife will open in the Soho Theatre in Spring 2006.

Cast
Henry Fielding Richard McCabe
Charlotte Charke Lizzie McInnerny
Robert Walpole Ron Cook
Richard Yates Nickolas Grace
Eliza Hayward Frances Tomelty
Mary Fielding Alison Pettitt
The Ale House Maid Amy Marston
Mr Ravenhill Christopher Adlington
Colley Cibber Robert Price

Directed by Eoin O’Callaghan.