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The Box-Lobby Challenge

play written by Richard Cumberland

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ7719560
Source-derived summary

The Box-Lobby Challenge is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Haymarket Theatre in February 1794. It is a farcical comedy of manners set amongst the working class. The original cast included Thomas Caulfield as George Waterland, William Barrymore as Captain Waterland, James Aickin as Sir Toby Grampus, Richard Suett as Squire Robert, Robert Baddeley as Old Crochet, John Bannister as Jack Crotchet, George Bland as Fulsome Walter Maddocks as Jones, Robert Benson as Joe, Maria Gibbs as Lady Jane Danvers, Sarah Harlowe as Diana Grampus, Charlotte Goodall as Laetitia, Elizabeth Hopkins as Theodosia and Maria De Camp as Lindamira. The prologue was authored by Francis North.

References

Bibliography

Mudford, William. The Life of Richard Cumberland. Sherwood, Neely & Jones, 1812.

Nicoll, Allardyce. A History of English Drama 1660-1900.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Box-Lobby Challenge” as play written by Richard Cumberland. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Box-Lobby, Challenge and play.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1794, 1812, 1660, 1900—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Box-Lobby, Challenge and play providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Box-Lobby Challenge”, the useful work is to connect “play written by Richard Cumberland” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7719560. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1794, 1812, 1660 and 1900.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Box-Lobby Challenge”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Box-Lobby Challenge primary sources, The Box-Lobby Challenge archive and Box-Lobby research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Box-Lobby Challenge”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from The Box-Lobby Challenge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.