The Seats of the Mighty

L.J. Rouse was a freelance writer in Toronto.

On April 28, 1897, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, (later Sir Herbert) premiered The Seats of the Mighty before a glittering society audience. It was the first play mounted at his new showplace, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Haymarket.

The play was based upon the novel of the same name by Canadian Gilbert Parker, who adapted his own work for the stage without notable success. It is of historical interest alone, being a fairly typical “spectacular romantic melodrama” of the era, set in the French court of Louis XV and in Quebec at the time of the British conquest of 1759. Tree’s insistence that his own part, that of the glamorous villain Doltaire, be expanded and emphasized at the expense of the romantic triangle which is the crux of the action, did nothing to improve the play’s construction.

This handsome edition includes biographical and historical notes of the various productions. It also provides replica pages of London reviews of the inaugural performance, and notes from prompt books and other theatre copies of the play.