I haven't blogged in a week, but not 'cause I've had nothing to say, just that I've had no time to write: The two big committees I'm on--a search committee and the T&P committee--have both reached fever pitch, and I'm still not entirely on the ball with all my teaching tasks. Though I will be soon. At the same time, I've been doing a lot of I might sentimentally call soul-searching, some of which I may blog about eventually, we'll see.
For the time being, all I've got is this lovely little post about the quiet on the blog and the noise in my head, unless you'd like a little history about patent theatres in London during the long 18th century, a topic about which, until very recently, I knew shamefully little. Otherwise, to bed, and onward into this daunting week of candidate visits, new lectures, exams to administer, and evaluation files to sign.
3 comments:
"...unless you'd like a little history about patent theatres in London during the long 18th century..."
Yes, please!
Well, I recently found out that the owner of the Haymarket theatre broke the patent monopoly (technically, a duopoly, but...) because of a practical joke gone awry--its proprietor, Samuel Foote, was boasting of his horsemanship, when the Duke of York offered him a particularly unruly horse to show his skill with. The horse threw foote so badly that his leg was broken in several places, and had to be amputated. Out of guilt, the Duke pulled some strings to secure a summer patent for plays to go on at the Haymarket (up until that point, something of an illegitimate theatre) when Covent Garden and Drury Lane were on hiatus. The Haymarket was the only theatre in London to be granted a new patent until the patent system was dissolved in 1834. And now my trivia is done.
My goodness, that crazy 18th century!
Love to hear more about whatever's going on in the soul-searching or London-trip-planning, too.
--- trystero
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