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90, GLOUCESTER PLACE, PORTMAN SQUARE. W. London 2nd August 1884
Dear Miss Cavendish,
I have the pleasure of
hereby granting to you
— on the same /pecuniary/ terms
as those already arranged
between us — the sole
authority to perform
my play, called
The New Magdalen,
during the period
occupied by your autumn |
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tour of the present year
— such authority to
be only exercised by yourself personally
and to extend over Gt Britain and Ireland, but not to
include London.
I remain
yours
W.C
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NOTES
This interesting letter gives Ada Cavendish the exclusive right to perform
The New Magdalen throughout the United Kingdom outside London in 1884.
Ada Cavendish (1839-1895) was an actress and theatre manager who produced the play when it was first performed in 1873 at the Olympic Theatre playing Mercy Merrick opposite Frank Archer as Julian Gray. She revived it a decade later and toured The New Magdalen in many provincial towns in 1883 and 1884. On 23 June 1883 Collins he wrote to Ada Cavendish to specify that she should pay £3 for each representation. Earlier on 9 June 1883 he thanked her for £50 'in part payment of the author's fees for the right of performing "The New Magdalen" in the provinces -- during your previous tours.' She later revived it in London at the Novelty in January 1884.
| Ada Cavendish as Mercy Merrick in The New Magdalen taken by Napoleon Sarony in New York. She played the part in Augustin Daly's production and Wilkie Collins was involved in the production and present during its opening on 10 November 1873 when this photograph was taken. |
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