And the title of the play was also exhibited in the same way, so that
the audience did not lack instruction as to the purport of the
entertainment set before them.
The introduction of movable scenes upon the stage has been usually
attributed to Sir William Davenant, who, in 1658, evading the
ordinance of 1647, by which the theatres were peremptorily closed,
produced, at the Cockpit in Drury Lane, an entertainment rather than a
play, entitled "The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, expressed by
vocal and instrumental music, and by art of perspective in scenes:" an
exhibition which Cromwell is generally supposed to have permitted,
more from his hatred of the Spaniards than by reason of his tolerance
of dramatic performances. The author of "Historia Histrionica," a
tract written in 1699, also expressly states that "after the
Restoration, the king's players acted publicly at the Red Bull for
some time, and then removed to a new-built playhouse in Vere Street,
by Clare Market; there they continued for a year or two, and then
removed to the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, where they first made use
of scenes, which had been a little before introduced upon the public
stage by Sir William Davenant.
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