Description
During Queen Victoria’s reign Sheffield’s population grew at an astonishing rate. Victorian Sheffield Entertainment gives a detailed examination of the many different ways the town attempted to entertain the vast numbers who were pouring in. Celebrities such as Henry Irving, Jenny Lind, Dan Leno, Lillie Langtry, Buffalo Bill and Charles Blondin shared the limelight with a variety of acts, not only in the mainstream theatres and concert halls, but also in the many music halls and unlikely places such as temperance halls, vestry halls and public gardens. Pantomimes and circuses attracted vast audiences. Visiting lecturers such as Charles Dickens and P T Barnum, along with wizards, vocalists, animal acts, minstrel shows and moving panoramas – the forerunners of today’s cinemas – were all very much in demand.
