Sharing System

Sharing System. All the English provincial companies in the first half of the 18th century worked on shares, though somewhat differently from the Elizabethans. After the expenses of the night had been paid the profits, even what remained of the candles, were shared among all the members of the company equally, except that the manager took four extra parts known as dead shares for expenses such as scenery and wardrobe. Every night an account was made up and the money paid out, the younger and less experienced members getting the same as the leading actors. Although this ‘commonwealth’ system was good in many ways it was open to abuse by unscrupulous managers, for the accumulation of important bills which the management owed, known as the stock debt, sometimes figured among the expenses long after it had been paid off. Such abuses led to the system falling out of favour in the mid-century and being replaced by the payment of salaries, which varied in proportion to the importance of the player and the affluence of the manager but were always very low in comparison to London salaries. The actors often depended more on their benefit performances, of which they had at least one every year, than on their shares or their salaries.