The Royal Dutch Theatre at the Hague 1804–1876

The history of the Koninklijke Nederduitsche Schouwburg (Royal Dutch Theatre) at The Hague begins in I804. although the theatre did not bear that name until Willem I granted it an annual subsidy a decade later. The present investigation covers the years from I804 to I876 because the company of Royal Dutch Players which was disbanded in the latter year had its origin in the group of actors that gave the opening performance of the new theatre on the K-orte V oorhout in the spring of I804. During the entire seventy-two years there were no important changes of policy at the Royal Dutch Theatre; it was not until I876 that a new period commenced in the theatrical life of the court city and of Holland. Although the Dutch players made frequent appearances in other towns and cities, particularly in Rotterdam and Leiden, the author has limited himself as much as possible to a dis- cussion of their activities at The Hague. There is an almost complete absence of newspaper criticism on the Haagsche Schouwburg throughout the first three fourths of the Nineteenth Century, but this lack would be far more serious if the greater part of the period, at least from about I830 to I876, had not been one of theatrical and dramatic poverty . We have enough sources to know that the performances and plays were rarely better than me- diocre. The little newspaper criticism available is usually of such an adulatory nature that it can hardly be called helpful.