Theatre as a Social Outlet for Lyon

Image of Drury Lane Theatre, where Lyon was likely to attend in the early nineteenth century.

Unfortunately, a personal account of one’s life removes objectivity and creates a biased narrative. Looking objectively at the cultural institution of theatre provides an historical snapshot of Lyon’s time in London, his financial means, and his social status. Tying his musings and critiques of performances with concrete information about the London stage in his time creates a more detailed understanding of Lyon in context within his own words and within the very real world of English theatre. Another large part of the diary is Lyon’s social life. He calls on many families, peers, business partners, and friends throughout his recordings and spends many late nights playing games (chess and whist most often) with his companions. Clearly, theatre functioned as a social outlet for Lyon. He deemed it important to record that one of his friends was attending the theatre even though he was not. He remarked on the performers at each event and seemed to take joy in passing the time thinking about these performances and discussing them.

Yet, theatre was as much a social outing for Lyon as it was an educational and cultural one. Lyon’s love of reading was tied to his fascination and participation in theatrical pursuits. For Lyon, theatre was a concrete manifestation of the themes and topics that he voraciously read about in novels mentioned throughout his diaries. The critiques he makes on plays like John Bull (“no great performance,” page 8) may be so negative because he critically read the play and disagreed with its staging. Lyon's participation in amateur plays in Barbados supports the notion that he seems to take great pride in his involvement in theatre, taking the time to list each character he played. As Lyon puts it, “every day brings on little more than a repetition of the same occupation and movement” (34) so being able to participate in a cultural pursuit again is of great interest to him. Understanding his writing and the world he writes about allows the audience to better engage with the text and with Lyon as a character. Taking the time to join a performance group and engage with a cultural text by acting it out brings his hobby full circle, reducing the “same occupation and movement” of his day to day and replacing it with an intellectually stimulating, culturally fulfilling activity.