This innovative work begins to fill a large gap in theatre studies:  the lack of any comprehensive study of nineteenth-century British  theatre audiences. In an attempt to bring some order to the enormous  amount of available primary material, Jim Davis and Victor Emeljanow  focus on London from 1840, immediately prior to the deregulation of that  city's theatres, to 1880, when the Metropolitan Board of Works assumed  responsibility for their licensing. In a further attempt to manage their  material, they concentrate chapter by chapter on seven representative  theatres from four areas: the Surrey Theatre and the Royal Victoria to  the south, the Whitechapel Pavilion and the Britannia Theatre to the  east, Sadler's Wells and the Queen's (later the Prince of Wales's) to  the north, and Drury Lane to the west. Davis and Emeljanow thoroughly examine the composition of these  theatres' audiences, their behavior, and their attendance patterns by  looking at topography, social demography, police reports, playbills,  autobiographies and diaries, newspaper accounts, economic and social  factors as seen in census returns, maps and transportation data, and the  managerial policies of each theatre.

Reflecting the Audience: London Theatregoing, 1840-1880 (Studies Theatre Hist & Culture) PDF

The list of books you might like