The Epitome of National Life: Metropolitan Music Hall and Variety Theatre, 1913-1919

Date

2015

Advisors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

ISSN

DOI

Volume Title

Publisher

Palgrave

Type

Book chapter

Peer reviewed

Yes

Abstract

Challenging the enduring reputation of the metropolitan music hall as a site of jingoistic patriotism during the First World War, this chapter explores its theatre as the product of an unprecedented negotiation between a mature mass entertainment industry and the economic and political demands of total war. It focuses on three London halls - the Coliseum, the Oxford and the Empire. Their varied responses to such factors as government intervention, changing audiences and the competition of cinema, it suggests, traces both a resilient adaptation to new circumstances and the ultimate transformation of the music hall from an innovative cultural industry to a repository of national tradition.

Description

n/a

Keywords

First World War, music hall, variety theatres

Citation

Featherstone, S. (2015) The Epitome of National Life: Metropolitan Music Hall and Variety Theatre, 1913-1919, In: Andrew Maunder (ed.) British Theatre and the Great War, 1914-1919: New Perspectives, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 179-194

Rights

Research Institute