When Samuel Johnson set out for London in March 1737 he did so in the company of his former student, David Garrick. To say that Johnson’s choice of traveling companion was fortunate is an understatement. Not only would Garrick be remembered as the foremost actor of his age but, as manager of the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane, he would, in 1749, stage Johnson’s only play, Irene. In 1737, however, Johnson was the one determined to brave London’s theater world. His plan was to finish Irene, to see it acted and published, and, in doing so, to establish himself as a man of letters. His timing could hardly have been worse.

The Licensing Act

On June 21, 1737 – before Johnson finished Irene –Parliament passed the Licensing Act, a law which changed the face of London’s theater world. Since the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, only two theaters had been authorized by royal patent to present plays, giving them an effective duopoly. These “patent theaters,” as they were called, enjoyed a fair amount of freedom. But the Licensing Act was designed to prevent the production of plays critical of Walpole’s government, and it reinforced the prohibition of plays being performed in anything other than the patent theaters. All new plays, additions to old plays, prologues, and epilogues had to be approved by the Examiner of Plays, a subordinate of the Lord Chamberlain.