The United Company was a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

theatre company formed in 1682 with the merger of the

King's Company The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London, after the London theatre closure 1642, London theatre closure had been lifted at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 166 ...

and the

Duke's Company The Duke's Company was a theatre company chartered by King Charles II at the start of the Restoration era, 1660. Sir William Davenant was manager of the company under the patronage of Prince James, Duke of York. During that period, theatres ...

. Both the Duke's and King's Companies suffered poor attendance during the turmoil of the

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinat ...

period, 1678–81. When the King's Company fell into difficulties due to mismanagement, the Duke's Company joined with them to form the United Company in 1682, managed by the Duke's Company leaders. The United Company began performances in November 1682. The King's Company theatre, the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, was used mainly for plays, while the Duke's

Dorset Garden Theatre The Dorset Garden Theatre in London, built in 1671, was in its early years also known as the Duke of York's Theatre, or the Duke's Theatre. In 1685, King Charles II died and his brother, the Duke of York, was crowned as James II. When the Du ...

was devoted to operas and spectaculars. The company began performing in November 1682 at Drury Lane. In February 1685 the theatre was closed by the death of Charles II, and reopened in January 1688 under the patronage of James II. The succession of William III and

Mary II Mary II (30 April 1662 – 28 December 1694) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England, List of Scottish monarchs, Scotland, and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland with her husband, King William III and II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Sh ...

in 1689 brought no Royal patronage and a decline in interest in theatre.''The Cambridge History of British Theatre'' Jane Milling, Peter Thomson, Joseph W. Donohue (CUP 2004) The company formed a monopoly of theatre in London, and this left both actors and playwrights in a weak position in respect to the management. When two companies had competed, many new plays were performed each year, but with the monopoly the number dropped dramatically. Between 1675 and 1678, there were 68 new plays performed by the competing companies, during the first four seasons of the United Company, merely 19 were performed. Christopher Rich took over the management in 1693, and his methods caused a split between the players in 1694. He was described "as sly a Tyrant as ever was at the Head of a Theatre," and the senior actors including Elizabeth Barry, Thomas Betterton and Anne Bracegirdle, with twelve other players left to form their own collaborative company. Barry was one of the original patent-holders of the actors' company, which opened at Lincoln's Inn Fields with the smash hit of Congreve's '' Love For Love'' in 1695 and continued to successfully challenge the much-reduced United Company. Architect and dramatist

John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restor ...

raised a subscription, probably amongst members of the Kit-Kat Club, offering "to recover them" (that is Betterton's company), "therefore, to their due Estimation, a new Project was form'd of building them a stately Theatre in the Hay-Market, by Sir John Vanbrugh, for which he raised a Subscription of thirty Persons of Quality, at one hundred Pounds each, in Consideration whereof every Subscriber, for his own Life, was to be admitted to whatever Entertainments should be publickly perform'd there, without farther Payment for his Entrance."''The Haymarket Opera House'', Survey of London: volumes 29 and 30: St James Westminster, Part 1 (1960), pp. 223-250
accessed: 18 December 2007 He was joined in the enterprise by his principal associate and manager

William Congreve William Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright, satirist, poet, and Whig politician. He spent most of his career between London and Dublin, and was noted for his highly polished style of writing, being regard ...

, and the actors' co-operative led by Thomas Betterton.Downes, Kerry. ''Sir John Vanbrugh: A Biography'' (London: Sidgwick and Jackson 1987) The Queen's Theatre opened on 9 April 1705, with ''The Loves of Ergasto'', an opera by Giacomo Greber.''Her Majesty's Theatre'' (Arthur Lloyd)
accessed 17 Dec 2007 The first season was a failure, at which Congreve departed and Vanbrugh bought out his other partners.

References

* Fitzgerald, Percy Hetherington. ''A New History of the English Stage.'' London, Tinsley Brothers, 1882. * Milhous, Judith. ''Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1696–1708.'' Carbondale, IL, Southern Illinois University Press, 1979. {{authority control English early modern theatre companies 1682 establishments in England 1694 disestablishments