‘Done to death by rubbish’

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (187) surveys the cultural and commercial terrain which deterred the welcome for professional theatrical productions until the 1880s. Attempts to follow the aristocratic amateur lifestyle and the puritanical effects of Temperance supporters constituted key obstacles. The town could not establish the will and the infrastructure to attract professional performers. The efforts and vision of one man, Harry Nash, provided that mechanism.

Victorian Bournemouth (187): context

Amateurs

Bournemouth’s social origins appeared to influence its cultural life beyond the time when its society had become more complex and varied. Much of the resort’s entertainment fare resembled that which would have characterised life in country homes run by the gentry. An emphasis fell on providing opportunities for amateur rather than professional performance. Indeed, the theatre embedded in the Shelleys’ grand house in Boscombe helped to create an appetite for Bournemouth’s amateur dramatics group. An amateur music society also prospered. Fetes and bazaars littered the calendar. While their revenue supported local charities, their purpose as social mixers for privileged people remained of equal importance. During the 1870s, the presence of several gentry amongst the Improvement Commissioners, resulted in an often noted amateurish handling of the town’s governance. By then, however, the numbers of respectable, middling people had grown in number and importance. Professionalism, not least in entertainment, resonated with them.

Alcohol

In parallel with the rule by gentry, real or pretend, ran a zeal to rescue labouring people from the grips of alcohol. Reports of Temperance meetings appeared often in the press. The church played a leading role in the campaign, not least the town’s religious doyen, A.M. Bennett, incumbent at St Peter’s Church. He supported Temperance activities in an aggressive and active manner. In part, this helped to enlarge his congregation. He championed ritualistic, High Church worship close to Catholicism. Nevertheless, he tied this to an otherwise puritan charter to which he encouraged labouring people to subscribe. Brewster courts renewed existing or granted new licences to serve alcohol. Temperance people brought challenges to almost every session. Thus, the local culture turned a forbidding face to the theatre. This delayed interested parties in securing a licence to attract professional theatrical performances to Bournemouth. Attempts for change occurred during the middle 1870s.

Victorian Bournemouth (187): cultural developments

Day-trippers

A complaint about hucksterism percolating on the beach suggests an ignorance or unwillingness to accept that the social profile of Bournemouth’s visitors had changed. People would not have bothered to set up stalls on the beach unless they felt confident of commercial success. The dream-world of Bournemouth as the exclusive preserve for elegant ladies and gentlemen had evaporated. Railway companies, keen to sell tickets, offered discount deals to get travellers on board. Bournemouth became a magnet for company outings, entrepreneurs wanting to reward their workforce with sand and sun. Hundreds if not thousands of people residing in nearby towns flocked to Bournemouth on Coronation Day, the resort offering a special magic they could not find at home. These visitors wanted stalls on the beach. Labouring people on day-trips, respectable middling types settling into lodging-houses for a week or two would have brought new cultural expectations to the town.

Family entertainment

To some extent, the early professional theatrical troupes that took advantage of the stage licence offered a soft evolution from puritanic suspicion. Thus, the town’s audiences appeared to have an appetite for the German Reed company. Mr Reed managed to maintain respectability despite producing professional theatrical fare. The entertainments performed by Mr and Mrs Reed, later incorporating their family, would have encouraged Bournemouth’s puritans that they could enter a theatre without damnation. In similar fashion, the works of Gilbert and Sullivan offered wholesome, but enjoyable theatrical entertainment suitable for families. H.M.S. Pinafore sailed more than once into Bournemouth during the late 1870s. Some evidence of discontent, however, permeated Bournemouth. A positive review of the Christy Minstrels added a pertinent comment. ‘indeed, what with the rubbish the town for some long time past has been done to death with, it was quite refreshing, and a pleasure to sit out an entertainment…’

Victorian Bournemouth (187): failure to launch

Entertainment properties

Bournemouth had accumulated a small number of theatrical properties. These included the old Assembly Rooms, associated with the Belle Vue hotel, the Winter Gardens, built in the craze inspired by the Crystal Palace, and a Town Hall. The latter had opened in 1875 and appeared to have won wide use by the community. The Winter Gardens, however, never seemed to acquire regular business or a clear image within the theatrical spectrum. More than once, groups of investors rescued it from liquidation. Attempts to sell brought little interest. The company formed to manage some of these buildings went into liquidation during the 1880s after attempts to stabilise its position. Furthermore, the use made of the Town Hall suggests little attempt at focus: Petty Sessions, committee meetings, concerts, amateur dramatics, dining events, and so on. Thus, by the 1880s, incorporation on the horizon, Bournemouth had little presence on the professional theatrical terrain.

Professional theatrical infrastructure

The Era, the profession’s newspaper, carried regular reviews of programmes performed at provincial theatres. A cursory glance for the 1870s shows scant coverage of Bournemouth. For professional theatre, the town’s power brokers had displayed very little of the drive and focus that had won the Sanatorium or the Pier for the resort. The old world of the aristocratic amateur combined with Temperance campaigns discouraged attempts to establish professional theatre in the town. This may explain in part the apparent commercial failure of the existing entertainment premises. To obtain regular notices in The Era, to establish the town on the country’s theatrical map, Bournemouth needed a promoter and premises each dedicated to the purpose. During the 1880s, Harry Nash and his Theatre Royal provided the means whereby the town’s residents and visitors could gain access to current theatrical professional productions and recognition in The Era‘s reviews.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (187) has surveyed the cultural and commercial background that retarded the development of professional theatrical production companies visiting the resort. It suggests that a lengthy subscription to aristocratic amateur lifestyles combined with puritan Temperance programmes acted as a deterrent. Only in the 1880s, through the efforts of Harry Nash, did matters change. During that decade audiences had the opportunity to enjoy regular, professional, and current theatrical productions that won critical notice.  

References

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