We know from the Corporation record books that theatrical performances were given in the Tholsel, the Town Hall of the day, as far back as 1619-20. These groups of ‘strolling players' were usually sponsored by local gentry and were regarded as an important feature of festive gatherings.
In 1642, the famous actor Jeremy Whitely came to Galway to join the widow Parker and her company here. He eventually married the widow but dwindling audiences eventually forced them to leave the city. We do not know where in town these performances took place, but if there was no suitable hall available, accommodation was often supplied by resident well-wishers who offered their barns, sheds, stables &c. The audience was usually made up of the gentry, the legal profession and the army.
By the mid-18th century, the practice of touring companies ‘following the assizes’ was established, and Galway’s Playhouse, which existed in 1739, was one of their stops. These companies depended on elite patronage, but their performances were attended by other social classes, segregated from one another in boxes, pit and gallery. Plays were still being produced in the upper rooms of the Tholsel in less than ideal conditions. Amateur theatricals were now becoming fashionable and in 1766, a small theatre was established by Humanity Dick Martin in Kirwan’s Lane. A promising young actor named Owenson was appointed manager. It was a small space with a sloping pit and designed to accommodate 100 people. Martin did this mostly to indulge his wife, Elizabeth Vesey, who had pretensions towards the histrionic art, “to enable his gifted wife to act on her own boards”.
Our illustration is of a playbill for a production of one of the most popular plays of the time, Douglas, in Kirwan’s Lane in August, 1783. Richard Martin played the villain Glenalvon while his wife played the heroine, Lady Randolph. She also played the part of Miss Bridget Pumkin in the second play of the double bill, All The World’s a Stage. Tickets were not cheap, £1 2s 9d for stage tickets and four shillings and four pence for the pit. Ladies were requested not to wear hoops so as to allow more people into the audience,
A young Theobald Wolfe Tone, later a revolutionary leader of the United Irishmen, had come to stay in Martin’s house in Dangan, and he also acted in both plays. He fell in love with and had an affair with Mrs Martin, and eventually was ‘asked to leave’ by Richard Martin.
Martin sold the theatre to Alexander McCartney in 1792 and he enlarged it. It continued until at least 1809. It was common for ladies and gentlemen of the gentry to send their servants to hold their places in boxes, an early form of booking one’s seat.
“A tasteful modification of the ballroom in Kilroy’s Hotel into a handsome little theatre in 1833 did not really satisfy Galway’s theatrical needs. In 1835, a new purpose built theatre opened in Lombard Street, 70 shareholders having contributed an average of £10 each. Mr Seymour was appointed manager and he engaged a ‘numerous and highly talented company which impressed with its first performance, an operatic play called Rob Roy'. The exterior of the theatre is extremely beautiful, the boxes are fitted with peculiar taste and neatness. The pit is commodious and capable of holding a great number of people.”
Our second illustration is of a playbill of a production there in 1835. Often, when a visiting actor came to Galway, the last night of the run would be a benefit for that actor, in this case Mr & Miss Dulang. That was how they earned a living.
