Theatre in the provinces in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries : with special reference to Sarah Baker in Kent.

There are four major dimensions to this thesis the focus of which is the provincial theatre of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The first concerns the activities of Sarah Baker (1736/37 - 20 February, 1816), the Kentish theatrical manager and entrepreneur, whose life and work have not onlyprovided the data on which this study is based but, also, the inspiration for the whole project. Secondly, in order to understand and add historiographical perspective to her achievements, Sarah's career is considered in the context of the wider world in which she lived. Although the evidence indicates that, by and large, her professional life was dictated by events and concerns far removed from the day to day existence over which she had any personal control, it is also clear that her activities had a dynamic and relevance all of their own and made an important contribution in shaping the nature and character of the volatile and rapidly changing society in which she lived and worked. In the third place, Sarah's career is examined in the light of existing accounts of the eighteenth century provincial theatre and the fact that much of what has emerged about her activities does not fit happily with many of these theories has prompted the fourth and final dimension to this study. This involves an investigation into provincial theatre in the country as a whole at that time and, here, the parallels, similarities and connections with Sarah's operation in Kent suggest that a reassessment of the place and significance of the provincial theatre in the broader history of the eighteenth century is long overdue.