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Theatrical Licensing Act 1737

When
1737
Where
Kingdom of Great Britain
Episodes
1

The Theatrical Licensing Act 1737 established state censorship of British theatre, requiring plays to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain to control political commentary.

Episodes

  1. 1737–1968 · Kingdom of Great BritainEstablishment of Censorship Role

    The act assigned the Lord Chamberlain and an examiner the duty of censoring all plays.

Background and detail

Legislative Purpose. The act, also known as the Plays Act 1736, was a pivotal moment in British theatrical history. Its primary objective was to control and censor theatrical content, specifically targeting remarks about the British government.

Censorship Mechanism. The legislation mandated that all plays be submitted for censorship. An examiner assisted the Lord Chamberlain in this task, a system that persisted from 1737 until 1968.

Sources

  1. Licensing Act 1737 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.