Reflecting The Audience

Synopsis

London theatre going, 1840-1880

This work begins to fill a gap in theatre studies: the lack of any comprehensive study of 19th-century theatre audiences.

Jim Davis and Victor Emeljanow focus on London from 1840, immediately prior to the deregulation of theatres, to 1880, when the Metropolitan Board of Works assumed responsibility for their licensing.

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.