Street theatre and urban change in nineteenth century Britain and France

Dr David Calder, Lecturer in Theatre and Performance Studies

Playbill from 1847, advertising a benefit for Mr Leigh Hunt with a performance of Ben Johnson’s “Every Man in his Humour” [R199828]

David’s research examines playbills and broadsides from the Street Literature Collection, the European Proclamations and Broadsides Collection, and the J. R. Allardyce Nicoll Printed Collection, in order to trace the cultural, economic and social importance of street performers during the nineteenth-century. David’s project seeks to establish a framework for understanding how both real and imagined street performers would have been intelligible to nineteenth-century audiences.

This project is funded by a JRRI Pilot Grant, and runs from January to June 2018.