WorkhouseArchives - Poor theatres: theatre, performance, poverty

The House – hatches, matches and dispatches

admin-poor — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 10:59:30 +0000

We are delighted to publish a guest post from Janice Wilson, Blue Badge tourist guide and volunteer at Heron Corn Mill. Janice saw a performance of The House in the barn at Heron Corn Mill on 24th November. (photograph courtesy of Joel Chester Fildes) Our home offers an individual […]

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Carran’s Working Diary 21: Overwhelmed

Carran Waterfield — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 02:45:59 +0000

We went to Salford with the concert and it was really good. Great questions and great responses to the concert and the pre concert unpacking. Now I am working through more information from the Data Protector that leaves me with so so many other questions. Nana was “in hospital” for […]

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Audible and voluble expressions – part 2 (1887)

admin-poor — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 05:24:30 +0000

Post by Jenny Hughes I’ve been researching theatrical entertainments in Victorian workhouses, and have come across an extraordinary range of work that might be described as ‘fledgling’ social theatre from the 19th century, from missionary and temperance theatricals to solidarity and charity performances by popular performers, to amateur performances by […]

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In the Workhouse – theatrical propaganda from 1911

Naomi Paxton — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 12:29:56 +0000

Post by Naomi Paxton ‘These facts told to a street corner audience invariably arouse great indignation, for the poor know by bitter experience that they are true; to bring them to the knowledge of our legislators is harder.’ The quote above is from Margaret Wynne Nevinson’s preface to her play […]

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Temperance drama and the poor

admin-poor — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 16:43:22 +0000

Post by Jenny Hughes I’ve been looking at temperance entertainments in a Rochdale workhouse in the 1880s – as part of a broader project to explore what can be learnt about the early histories of ‘social theatre’ or ‘applied theatre’ from theatrical engagements with the poor in 19th century workhouses […]

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Pop up paupers, pathways and pauper mice at the Workhouse, Southwell

admin-poor — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 10:43:42 +0000

Post by Jenny Hughes On Sunday 24th August I went with Carran Waterfield from Triangle Theatre to the Workhouse at Southwell (Nottinghamshire). The workhouse was bought by the National Trust in 1997 and renovated with loving care and no expense spared to a condition as close to the original as possible, opening […]

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Songs and recitations in the workhouse – ‘A Fine Old English Gentleman’

admin-poor — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:34:43 +0000

Post by Jenny Hughes As noted in ‘The only way is Rochdale 3’ (blog post below) – the Orpheus Glee club performed at the opening of Dearnley workhouse in Rochdale and at the Christmas treat for paupers that followed a week or so later, and their repertoire may have included […]

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The only way is Rochdale (3)

admin-poor — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:22:39 +0000

Post by Jenny Hughes To return to the records of entertainments taking place in Dearnley workhouse in Rochdale during the final third of the 19th century (see previous posts – The only way is Rochdale 1 and 2). I found at least one entertainment for each month of the years […]

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The only way is Rochdale (2)

admin-poor — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:20:08 +0000

Post by Jenny Hughes I’ve been looking at records of entertainments in Dearnley workhouse in Rochdale, from its opening in 1877. This has meant looking at huge, heavy, dusty, crumbling minute books kept by the Board of Guardians and various workhouse committees – minute books are full of beautiful handwritten […]

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The ethical value of theatre

admin-poor — Wed, 28 May 2014 12:28:28 +0000

Post by Jenny Hughes The editorial page of the Guardian newspaper on 31st January 1890 gave a brief account of a debate amongst the Poor Law Guardians of Bolton on ‘the ethical value of theatre – especially, of course, in its relation to the future welfare of pauper children’. Mr […]

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