Read more
Informationen zum Autor Jacky Bratton is Professor of Theatre and Cultural History in the Department of Drama and Theatre, Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of New Readings in Theatre History (Cambridge University Press, 2003), and, with Julie Hankey, is Joint Series Editor of the Shakespeare in Production series published by Cambridge University Press. She also discusses theatre history on BBC radio. Ann Featherstone is Research Assistant in the Department of Drama and Theatre, Royal Holloway, University of London. Her interests encompass popular entertainment and culture, and she has published on subjects such as public entertainments, the diary of a Victorian theatre-goer in Nottingham, and the portable theatres in Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film and Early Popular Visual Culture. She is also a part-time lecturer in theatre history and popular culture at the University of Manchester. The Victorian Clown unlocks the secrets of Victorian comedy, letting us into the gaudy world of the circus through the life and works of two professional clowns. James Henry Frowde ran away at 16 to join the famous Henglers circus, and this volume contains his previously unpublished account of life on the road. Also included is the gag book of another professional clown, Thomas Lawrence, dating from 1871, providing a unique insight into his nightly performances in gas-lit tents all over Victorian England. The Victorian Clown, first published in 2006, is a study of the life and work of two professional Victorian clowns. Their previously unpublished manuscripts - James Frowde's account of his young life with the famous Henglers' circus in the 1850s and Thomas Lawrence's 1871 gag book - offer unique access to the roots of popular entertainment. Inhaltsverzeichnis The Victorian Clown: 1. The Victorian travelling shows; 2. Circus buildings; 3. A micro-history from two manuscripts; The Autobiography of James Frowde, a Victorian Clown: 1. Childhood and youth, 1831-49; 2. Running away to join the circus, 1847-9; 3. Out into the world to learn his trade, 1849; 4. At last a clown with Hengler's, 1850-1; 5. A spell with Cooke's Circus, 1851; 6. The end of the story, 1851-7; Lawrence's Repertoire: Popular Humour Unmediated; Thomas Lawrence's gagbook: a collection of Victorian wheezes....
