Victorian Fancies
Boucicault’s London Assurance was written in 1841 – the year of Dickens’ Old Curiosity Shop, the founding of Punch magazine and the Parisian premiere of Giselle – and a time when hundreds of theatres were being built to house a flourishing industry. Now largely forgotten, this is the chance to discover more about the age of melodrama, music hall and richly comic drama – with extracts, songs, discussion and a special presentation of Boucicault’s version of The Corsican Brothers, performed in a Victorian Pollock’s Toy Theatre.
Guests: Richard Fawkes (author of Dion Boucicault - A Biography), Matthew Scott and Peter Shaw.
Rehearsed readings from: Douglas Jerrold's Black-Eyed Susan, HJ Byron's Babes in the Wood (directed by Anthony Banks), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' new version of Boucicault's The Octoroon (directed by Mark Ravenhill) and John Maddison Morton's Grimshaw, Bagshaw and Bradshaw (directed by Dan Bird).
Chaired by Al Senter.
Tickets £10
Running Time: 2 hours
Victorian Fancies finished on: 15 May 2010
