admitted to whatever Entertainments should be publickly perform'd there, without farther Payment for his Entrance." He was joined in the enterprise by his principal associate and manager William Congreve, and the actors' co-operative led by Thomas Betterton. The Queen's Theatre opened on 9 April 1705, with The Loves of Ergasto, an opera by Giacomo Greber. The first season was a failure, at which Congreve departed and Vanbrugh bought out his other partners. References Fitzgerald, Percy Hetherington. A New History of the English Stage. London, Tinsley Brothers, 1882. Milhous, Judith. Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1696–1708. Carbondale, IL, Southern Illinois University Press, 1979. English early modern theatre companies 1682 establishments in England 1694 disestablishments