Royal Circus. Grand Equestrian Fete, and Double Chain of New Entertainments

A playbill that announces an evening of performance on Tuesday, November 20th, 1838. The main event of the evening was an equestrian performance titled "St. George and the Dragon," which portrayed his "grand combat and encounter with the green monster." Along with the equestrian performance, the evening featured a horsemanship show titled "The Highland Laddie," a ballet performance titled "Les Jeux de Flores!" and a play titled "Indian and Settler."

Early nineteenth-century British theater-going was often a miscellaneous experience. Acrobatics, horsemanship, dance, music were as popular as dramatic performances. The era is also fascinated with the display of spectacles, and such fascination often reveals itself in the hyperbolic language of playbills, the aim of which is to predispose audience to sensational experience even before they enter the theater. The stage of the period also takes particular interest in non-western cultures, and often reduces the encounter to stereotyped scenarios. The playbill offers a glimpse into the everyday life of the British people as well as the imperialist mentality of the nation.

Entry by Cen Liu