The Victorian Clown

This book, first published in 2006, is a micro-history of Victorian comedy, discussing the life and work of two professional clowns.

Jacky Bratton (Author), Ann Featherstone (Author)

9781107666672, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 March 2014

288 pages, 10 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.43 kg

The Victorian Clown, first published in 2006, is a micro-history of mid-Victorian comedy, spun out of the life and work of two professional clowns. Their previously unpublished manuscripts - James Frowde's account of his young life with the famous Henglers' circus in the 1850s and Thomas Lawrence's 1871 gag book - offer unique, unmediated access to the grass roots of popular entertainment. Through them this book explores the role of the circus clown at the height of equestrian entertainment in Britain, when the comic managed audience attention for the riders and acrobats, parodying their skills in his own tumbling and contortionism, and also offered a running commentary on the times through his own 'wheezes' - stand-up comedy sets. Plays in the ring connect the circus to the stage, and both these men were also comic singers, giving a sharp insight into popular music just as it was being transformed by the new institution of music hall.

The Victorian Clown: 1. The Victorian travelling shows
2. Circus buildings
3. A micro-history from two manuscripts
The Autobiography of James Frowde, a Victorian Clown: 1. Childhood and youth, 1831–49
2. Running away to join the circus, 1847–9
3. Out into the world to learn his trade, 1849
4. At last a clown with Hengler's, 1850–1
5. A spell with Cooke's Circus, 1851
6. The end of the story, 1851–7
Lawrence's Repertoire: Popular Humour Unmediated
Thomas Lawrence's gagbook: a collection of Victorian wheezes.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]