The STR website is proud to introduce a new series of occasional essays that will provide an outlet for material that deserves widespread scholarly distribution but is tied to a particular event or date. Essays will be subject to double blind refereeing and will need to conform to the editorial guidelines of Theatre Notebook.

Would you like to contribute to this series? If you want to celebrate an anniversary or explore material that is best suited to dissemination on the web, then please contact Trevor Griffiths at theatrenotebook@str.org.uk for further guidance. Full details of this can be found on the Theatre Notebook page here.

On 16 February 1719, playgoers at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket witnessed an event which is probably unique in the annals of Anglo-French theatre history: the premiere of a comedy performed, in French, by a company of French actors: Arlequin Balourd

This latest addition to our series of Occasional Essays is written by Robert Kenny, who received STR Research Grants towards his work on the actor-manager François Moylin, known as Francisque, who also played the Arlequin of the title.

Read his article here

The second essay in this series is an account by David Wood of the history of  Whirligig Theatre, which flourished from 1969 right into the 21st century, closing only twenty years ago.

The series was inaugurated with a timely essay by Barbara Day on the occasion of Stephen Joseph’s centenary.

‘Gather round…’ Stephen Joseph and the Art of Celebration