Audience on the Stage

Audience on the Stage. The practice, common in the early English and Continental theatres, of allowing members of the audience, usually chattering fops in fine clothes, to buy seats on the stage was a fertile source of disorder and of acute irritation to both actor and dramatist. It is first mentioned in England in 1596 and in France not until 1649, but by both dates the tradition was well established. Voltaire was responsible for the removal of spectators in 1759 from the stage of the Comédie-Française. When Garrick took over Drury Lane he too tried to remove them, but had to wait until the theatre was enlarged in 1762. In other London theatres the practice lingered on into the 19th century, and was remarked on at Grimaldi's farewell performance at Drury Lane in 1828, and again in 1838 and 1840, when Queen Victoria visited Covent Garden.