Two Last Nights: Show Business in Georgian Britain
Fascinating exhibition at the Foundling Museum a look at entertainment in Georgian Britain.
The show
described itself as “a how-to guide to going to a show in eighteenth century
Britain” and covered the theatre, the Foundling Chapel, Vauxhall Pleasure
Gardens and music festivals. It took you through every aspect from buying a
ticket, what to wear, what you’d have seen and where you’d have eaten.
The show ranged
throughout the museum with the main section in the basement looking at theatre
and was designed like the foyer of a theatre. It examined the opera and spoken
word plays with sections on the main London theatres of the time and a look at
regional touring theatre. I loved the idea that one ticket was printed for the
season with the show name and seat numbers being hand written on each ticket.
I’d not realised that a box office originally only sold tickets for the boxes
with a pay booth for other tickets.
The Handel room
at the top of the building looked at the growth in music festivals around the
country and the role that oratorios played in this while the first floor looked
at the benefit concerts held in the Foundling Hospitals own chapel.
I was most
excited to see the section on Vauxhall Gardens and in particular one of the
original paintings from a dining box which they had recreated. My father had
had an interest in the music of Vauxhall gardens so it was lovely to find out
more about them. The picture was by Francis Hayman and his studio that produced
50 for dining boxes of which only 15 survive.
However I’m still
not sure why the exhibition was called Two Last Nights.
Closes on 5
January 2019
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