Showing posts with label Gaiety tour of Australasia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaiety tour of Australasia. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

The London Gaiety Burlesque Company

The London Gaiety Burlesque Company toured Australia in 1892-1893. They were performers from the famous Gaiety theatre in London and included E J Lonnen, Marion Hood and Robert Courtneidge. Courtneidge later became a very famous producer/manager in his own right.

They performed two burlesques of opera on the tour, Faust up to date and Carmen up to data. These were,of course, parodies of the originals.

A tour by the Gaiety company was a huge event because they represented the very best in English entertainment, so everything about the production was of high quality, including the souvenirs.

One example was a lovely, "Souvenir of the Gaiety Theatre, George Edwardes" Which included a set of eight sketches by Percy Anderson.


Above is a soldier


This is Carmen and below is Frasquita.

These are beautiful examples of the time and effort that was taken to make visiting the theatre such a special experience in the late 19th Century.

More information about the tour is here