The Warwickshire Company of Comedians, also known as Mr Ward's Company of Comedians and after 1767 as Mr Kemble's Company of Comedians, was a theatre company established by John Ward in Birmingham, England in the 1740s, touring throughout the West Midlands region and surrounding counties over subsequent decades. Unusual in the 18th century as a provincial company producing performances to London tastes and standards, it is particularly notable as the origin of the Kemble family theatrical dynasty, which was to dominate the English stage in the late-18th and early 19th centuries. Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble in particular, who were Ward's grandchildren and whose careers began in the company, were the leading actress and actor of their time, and are still considered among the greatest performers in English theatrical history.
History
Foundation
The Warwickshire Company of Comedians was founded by John Ward at Birmingham's Moor Street Theatre, which opened in 1740 and which Ward is recorded as managing in the early 1740s. Although the precise date of its foundation is unknown, the company was definitely in existence by 1744, when they are recorded as visiting Stratford-upon-Avon. Their burgeoning reputation was apparent by the time of their next visit in May 1746, when a surviving letter from a local schoolmaster described them as "a Company of Strolling-Players ... much ye best Set I have seen out of London, & in which opinion I am far from being singular". The company returned to Stratford again later that year, when their performance of Othello on 9 September – raising money to restore the memorial bust of Shakespeare in Holy Trinity Church – was the earliest recorded performance of a play by Shakespeare in the playwright's home town.
Over the following decades the company toured widely, performing in town halls, barns, schoolhouses and guildhalls throughout the English Midlands and Wales. Their reputation was such that they were able to play long seasons at each venue – 23 weeks at Ludlow in 1758 and seventeen weeks at Brecon in 1764 – and their repertoire was wide: as well as Shakespeare it included works by Congreve, Dryden, Rowe, Lee, Steele and Vanbrugh, and extended to pantomime, music and dance. Their performances also had a keen sense of spectacle: in Hereford in 1753 they presented Romeo and Juliet with the "Grand Funeral Procession and Solemn Dirge set to Music by Signor Pasqualli", and at Gloucester in 1747 they performed Henry VIII "with the whole ceremony of the coronation of Queen Anne Bullen and the military ceremony of the Champion (on horse-back) in Westminster Hall. The Robes, Armour, Canopy and Bishops' and Judges' dresses and all the decorations of the play entirely new".
Kemble
The major turning point in the company's existence took place in 1751 when Richard Yates' company from London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opened the purpose-built King Street Theatre in Birmingham to compete with the smaller venue in Moor Street. Ward's reaction to this invasion of his long-held territory was ill-tempered – the contemporary actor Charles Lee Lewes records him describing the newcomers as "drawling, face-making puppies" and promising to "work the dogs a penn'orth for daring to cross my circuit" – and Ward responded by advertising in the London newspapers for "capital performers" to join him in Birmingham. This was pivotal moment in theatrical history, as it was this advertisement that brought Roger Kemble to Birmingham to join the company, and the following June in Cirencester Kemble married the Wards' daughter Sarah. Of the couple's twelve children each that survived into adulthood went onto the stage, all except one married performers, and all were to start their careers performing with the Warwickshire Company of Comedians: this marked the origin of the Kemble family, who were to dominate the English stage over the following decades.