The Britannia Theatre: Visual Culture and the Repertoire of a Popular Theatre

Abstract

The influence of high art on theatrical productions at the prestigious top end of the Victorian theatrical scene has been well documented, in studies of Henry Irving and Herbert Beerbohm Tree in particular.1 The interaction between the minor, or non-West End, popular theatres and other forms of visual culture has received less attention. The Britannia Theatre in Hoxton makes a useful case study to explore the dynamics of this relationship. The Britannia (popularly nicknamed the Brit) was a large East End theatre whose audience was predominantly drawn from the working- and lower-middle classes living in the neighbourhood.2 It began life as a saloon theatre in 1840 and had established itself as a popular community amenity by 1850. Under the management first of Samuel Lane and then his actress widow, Sara Lane, the Britannia consistently drew large audiences until the end of the nineteenth century. It also attracted favourable attention, especially during the run of its pantomimes, from prominent visitors from outside the vicinity, such as Charles Dickens and George Bernard Shaw. This essay reveals how visual culture influenced the form of the theatre’s mid-century productions and contrasts this with its output at the fin de siècle. It also highlights two aspects of the Britannia’s entertainments where its visual aesthetics were very different from its West End counterparts — its incidentals and its pantomimes.KeywordsRoyal AcademyPopular TheatreBritish LibrarySeptember 1866Visual CultureThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.