Dimensions 204 x 350 mm. Single leaf broadside. Two small marginal holes to left hand edge.

An early playbill marking the ninth performance of Irish dramatist James Sheridan Knowles' (1784-1862) adaptation of Schiller's famous revolutionary Swiss drama, William Tell. First staged at Drury Lane on the 11th May, Knowles' translation was criticised by Thomas Rea for its excessive melodrama, making the hero 'so loquacious as to seem almost a braggart.' Despite this, the performance of William Macready in the title role was much applauded, and Thomas Archer was suitably despicable as the villainous character of Gesler. The first adaptation of William Tell performed in England was staged at the Royal Amphitheatre on 7th June 1802, with Knowles' version being the second produced in 1825; the first - and a more critically acclaimed - full English translation had been produced by Samuel Robinson only months prior. The subsequent evening entertainment is advertised as the sixtieth showing of Der Freischütz, the Romantic opera by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826).