OFFSTAGE :: An Atlas of Theatrical Travels at the Theatre

AT THE THEATRE

In late Victorian London, theatre was in high popular demand. Sophisticated "patent" theatres in the middle of town offered Shakespeare or the latest Gilbert and Sullivan to the cultural elite.

Spectacular melodramas in smaller (but equally legitimate) playhouses down the street were the obsession of the middle classes. The middle and working classes also flocked to music halls all over the city to watch their favorite variety or burlesque performers.

Similar establishments in the suburbs offered the same musical fare, but under less reputable conditions and with less reputable performers. Theatre even had a place among Victorian children, who played with toy theatres and attended magic lantern shows.

Indeed, by the end of the 19th century, theatre in some form was popular among all strata of London society.

CLOCKWISE
FROM TOP LEFT:

- Gustav Doré,
"A View of Popular
Theatre," from London:
A Pilgrimage (1872).

- A poster for Gilbert
and Sullivan's
The Sorcerer, 1920.

- Balcony at the Old
Bedford Music Hall,
1880s.

- Seymour Hicks
in Quality Street.

- Charles Hawtrey in
A Message from Mars.

- A late-19th century
music hall poster.

- Oxford Music Hall,
1875.

- A poster for a
melodrama at the
Avenue Theatre, c. 1890.

- Music hall favorites
Albert Chevalier
and Marie Lloyd.

OFFSTAGE
TABLE OF
CONTENTS

1. THE PLAYWRIGHT:
A Different Way of
Telling a Story

2. THE CREATIVE TEAM:
Evan Cabnet,
Young Stage Director

3. INSIGHT:
     An Atlas of Theatrical
     Travels
     - In England
     - At Sea
     - In Australia
     - In Print
     - In Question
     - At the Theatre

4. INSIGHT:
The Paradox of
Truth and Craft

5. OUTSIGHT:
Telling Truth
from Fiction

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READING MATERIALS

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