At a typical moment of penury, Charlotte was offered the leading male role of Punch (of Punch & Judy fame) in a new puppet theatre proposed by a Mr. Russell, due to her recognised abilities as both a comic performer and a proven manipulator of difficult stringed marionettes. The short season was an artistic and financial success for Charlotte, but before it could be repeated the theatre's founder was arrested for debts and confined to Newgate Prison, where he died after having lost his fortune and his mind. Charlotte attempted to buy her friend's puppets from Russell's landlord, who had claimed them, but she could not meet his asking price and the little company likewise passed out of existence. An unproduced script Russell had written was also kept by the dead man's creditors as collateral, thus preventing Charlotte from staging it as she had promised its author. The script was thereafter lost as well.