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The Salisbury Comedians were the main company of actors to appear at the Vine Playhouse in the Cheese Market and then at the new Theatre in New Street. They and their successors were part of a great theatrical era in Salisbury which has been all but forgotten. As Chris Abbott shows, Salisbury in the Georgian and Regency period was an important location on the theatrical touring circuit, and a series of idiosyncratic managers was responsible for the winter theatrical seasons there. Many famous actors appeared at Salisbury, including Dora Jordan, Ira Aldridge and William Macready. Salisbury was also the birthplace of John Vandenhoff, eminent actor of the early nineteenth century, and the city played its own part in the changing licensing of theatres. Through playbills, newspaper accounts and diary entries, this theatrical period in Salisbury is reclaimed and can be celebrated alongside later and current achievements. Chris Abbott is Emeritus Reader at King’s College London. August 2026, vi, 317 pages, illustrated paperback, £20.00, ISBN 978-1-918403-05-3.
The Salisbury Comedians were the main company of actors to appear at the Vine Playhouse in the Cheese Market and then at the new Theatre in New Street. They and their successors were part of a great theatrical era in Salisbury which has been all but forgotten. As Chris Abbott shows, Salisbury in the Georgian and Regency period was an important location on the theatrical touring circuit, and a series of idiosyncratic managers was responsible for the winter theatrical seasons there. Many famous actors appeared at Salisbury, including Dora Jordan, Ira Aldridge and William Macready. Salisbury was also the birthplace of John Vandenhoff, eminent actor of the early nineteenth century, and the city played its own part in the changing licensing of theatres. Through playbills, newspaper accounts and diary entries, this theatrical period in Salisbury is reclaimed and can be celebrated alongside later and current achievements. Chris Abbott is Emeritus Reader at King’s College London. August 2026, vi, 317 pages, illustrated paperback, £20.00, ISBN 978-1-918403-05-3.