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The Playbill and Its People

Author:   Russell, Gillian
Publisher:   National Library of Australia
ISBN:  

9780642277381


Pages:   152
Publication Date:   01 March 2012
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
This item is in stock and will be dispatched immediately.

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Overview

People in the Georgian period were fascinated by the theatrical experience. The sociability of going to the theatre, the crush of the crowd getting in, the laughter and tears of the audience were at least as meaningful as the performances on stage, if not more so.

Imagine such a scene in Sydney, Saturday, 30 July 1796.

It was a winter’s evening, not bitterly cold and snowing as winter in Britain might have been, but cool nonetheless. Towards half past five, as the light faded, groups of people, eventually amounting to 200 or more, began to gather around the door of the playhouse. Saturday was the last day of the working week and it was time to meet friends, make music, get drunk or go to a play. Performed by local amateurs, the evening’s entertainment consisted of the tragedy Jane Shore, a pantomime dance called The Wapping Landlady and a farce known as The Miraculous Cure.

In 2007 a librarian at the Library and Archives Canada Library came across a fragile sheet of paper inserted inside a book. It was the playbill advertising the evening of entertainment that had taken place on that cold winter’s night, halfway across the world, over two centuries before. The playbill is the earliest printed document in the history of Australia to be so far discovered and in 2011 it was included on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.

As a piece of ephemera the playbill offers tantalizing glimpses of the social and cultural life of the early colony. What is the significance of the plays performed? Who were the players and their audiences? What kind of theatre did they play in? Gillian Russell answers all of these questions and more, in this fascinating account of the history and significance of the playbill.

Full Product Details

Author:   Russell, Gillian
Publisher:   National Library of Australia
ISBN:  

9780642277381


Pages:   152
Publication Date:   01 March 2012
Publisher's Status:   Not Specified
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
This item is in stock and will be dispatched immediately.

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