ROWDY 19TH CENTURY THEATRE AUDIENCES

That's the old Drury Lane Theatre above. It looks like an expensive place to run and I wouldn't blame readers for thinking that it must have cost a fortune to see a show there. Actually, it didn't. There were seats in every price range. 

Most people don't realize that 19th Century Londoners of all but the very lowest class were frequent theatre goers. It's as if they had TV even before TV was invented. Even then, nobody wanted to stay home at night and darn socks by candle light. Londoners wanted spectacle and drama after dinner, just like we do in 2014 when we turn on the TV.

Frequent trips to the theatre, even for people with minimal income, was made possible by the marvelous English tradition that allowed mixing of the classes (sort of) in theatres. Almost everyone could afford theatre tickets and that's because because the uppermost gallery in the big theatres was set aside for the working poor. 

This gallery wasn't exactly luxurious. People were packed onto backless wooden benches, shoulder to shoulder. Ventilation ranged from poor to non-existent and fist fights were common. In one theatre disruptive fights were broken up by big, burly security guards who would grab the combatants by the scruf of their necks and throw them into a chute which zig-zagged down to the street outside.

Maybe the management could sell the seats so cheap because they had other ways of making money. Roaving vendors sold alcohol and food. They also made money by double booking. More tickets were sold than there were seats, even after people were crammed in. You could be stuck with a ticket you couldn't use, like the couple above. I'm guessing that some smaller theatres even profitted from kickbacks from the prostitutes who plied their wares there.

Another source of revenue was the toys that were sold. These included paper cut-out theatres (above).

Prints, too (above).

I imagine that prints or photos of the performers (above) were also sold. The amazing thing is that so many of these cheap nolveties were actually worth having.

But I digress. There's more to say about the flamboyant theatre goers and something called The OP Riots of 1809. OP is short for "Old Prices." Theatre owners tried to nudge the rowdy lower classes out of the theatres by raising the prices and the cheap seaters rebelled. I pity all parties in disputes like that.

The poor were addicted to theatre. They named their kids after famous actors, and every kid wanted to be an actor someday. For them the thought of doing without was intolerable. On the other hand the poor could be unbelievably vile. The catcalls, baby screams, body odor, fights, vomitting and pranks generated by the lower classes must have been something to see.

Eventually the middle class won. By the beginning of the 20th Century ticket prices were up and only the vaudeville-style music halls carried on some of the old traditions.

Interesting, eh?