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Popular Tradition
Popular here means “for or involving
ordinary people rather than
specialists or very educated people”.
Scottish dramatists, from Sir David Lyndsay and his Satire of the Thrie
Estatis [ 1554] onwards, have borrowed what we might regard as
distinctive features of popular theatre and cheerfully mixed genres, used
music and dialect, and exploited direct audience involvement to great
effect.
Popular entertainment in nineteenth century Glasgow:
background and context for The Waggle o'the Kilt exhibition,
by Alasdair Cameron
Originally … there were
 Zoos (menageries),
waxworks and
freakshows which were
all popular
 Agricultural Shows (much
like they are to this day)
 And semi-rural
amusements provided by
traditional fairs
12th – 17th Century
 'The (Glasgow) Fair'
dates from the 12th
century. A fair was
annually staged on
Glasgow Green, full
of menageries, freak
shows, waxworks
and whisky booths.
 In the 17th Century,
the only regular
theatre in Scotland
was provided by rope
dancers, menagerie
owners and quack
remedy sellers.
Glasgow Fair 1825
Also look in
 What is the History of
CST Powerpoint
 Popular entertainment
in nineteenth century
Glasgow:
background and
context for The Waggle
o'the Kilt exhibition,
by Alasdair Cameron
Pantomime Click here for more information
 Pantomime blends the traditions of the Italian "Commedia
dell’ Arte, and the British Music hall to produce the art form
that is Pantomime. Pantomime was, at one point, a short
piece put on after the evening's main performance, and
consisted largely of acrobatic tricks and knock-about
humour.
 1751 - first known mention of pantomime in Glasgow was in
with the presentation of Harlequin Pantomime
 1814 - Aladdin was produced at the Theatre Royal,
described as a melodrama.
1866 - Theatre Royal, billed Aladdin as
the "gorgeous pantomime" and describes
it as "a most Magnificently Magnumptious
Processional Production, Profusely
Produced and Peculiarly Pretty."
19th Century
 British touring theatre which
performed in Theatres Royal in town
centres and became “legitimate”
theatre
 vital minor house tradition that
resulted in a strong local tradition of
performance in illegitimate theatre
 popular voice in the tradition of the
"penny geggies" (small-scale, fit-up
touring theatres) that contributed to
the rising phenomenon of the urban
music hall
Spread of the
railways led to
 A rise of the London touring
productions
 The disappearance of the local stock
companies
 Few independent theatres in Scotland
remaining.
 Through the 19th century "real"
theatre, that is legitimate theatre,
became synonymous with London
theatre and with companies who
arrived by train one Sunday and left
by train the next.
London touring theatre
 Expensive and metropolitan
 Patronised by Scotland's
middle-classes
 Indigenous theatre-making in
Scotland was increasingly
seen as rough, lacking
sophistication and, at root,
popular.
 Popular here means “for or
involving ordinary people
rather than specialists or very
educated people”.
Penny Geggies
 The Pennie Geggies were the
“popular” theatre of 19th Century
 Geggy means “your mouth”.
Originally a travelling side-show or
playlet.
 An old penny entry fee. Hence 'penny
geggie‘
 Small and proprietor-driven
Cheap and popular performances, exhibitions and displays. The
Geggies would present Victorian melodramas like ‘Maria Martin
and the Red Barn Mystery’. Will Fyffe (who immortalised ‘I
belong to Glasgow’), the great character comedian travelled in
these shows.
 Conditions were rudimentary and comfort minimal.
 Performances included short melodramas, music hall performances,
social and political commentary and even short versions of
Shakespeare's tragedies.
Scottish Plays
 Plays by Scots, about Scotland and performed by
Scottish actors were relegated either to the theatres in
the poorest parts of town or to the "penny geggies".
 Through the mid and even late 19th century, and in
some rural areas of Scotland into the 20th century, the
geggies continued to perform bawlderdised versions of
Shakespeare and melodramas with a Scottish accent to
audiences composed almost entirely of the urban and
rural working classes. The geggies also played a vital
role in the preservation of Scotland's "National Drama".
 Plays about Scotland, or with Scottish themes and
settings, provided more than half the geggies' repertoire.
They thrived until musical hall, the variety theatre and
cinema displaced them.
Music Hall
 The most dynamic and successful popular
theatre genre of the 19th century.
 Reflected the lifestyles and preoccupations
of working people in a way that only
television in the modern era has done
since.
 Glasgow was the centre of a vigorous
Scottish performing culture, one developed
in a Presbyterian society with a very
different experience of industrial
urbanization.
 Drew on older fairground and traditional
forms in developing its own brand of this
new urban entertainment.
 Music Hall brought together a variety of
different acts which together formed an
evening of light hearted entertainment.
 The origins of Music Hall are found in a
number of institutions which provided
entertainment in the populous towns and
cities of Britain in the 1830s. These were:

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The backroom of the pub, where simple
sing-songs gave way to the singing
saloon concert.
Popular theatre, sometimes in pub
saloons but mainly at travelling fairs.
Song & Supper Rooms, where more
affluent middle class men would enjoy a
night out on the town.
The Pleasure Gardens, where
entertainment became more low brow
as the years passed.
Variety Shows
 The heyday of the British
Music Hall was from the
1890s up to the second
World War. It was the
most popular form of
entertainment for ordinary
people, at least until
sound films began in the
late 1920s.
 Programme from the
Britannia Glasgow 1897
Britannia Theatre - Original entrance was in centre of ground floor,
with steps leading up to the theatre on first and second floor.
There was a zoo in the basement, and a waxworks and freakshow
on the third floor.
Elements of Popular Theatre
 Comedy
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One liners/punch
lines
Long running jokes
Double acts
Visual comedy
Patter
Dramatic irony
Timing
Set Pieces
 Music
 Sentimentalising a
 Song
 Dance

 Pantomime

 Variety

 Humour / Pathos 
 Scots Language
 Actor / audience
relationship
Ritual
Local References
Monologues
Sketches
Use of Stereotypes
The Double Act
 A double act or comedy duo
 A comic pairing
 Often uneven relationship between
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two partners
Drastically different personalities
or behaviour.
The straight man, feed or stooge
is portrayed as reasonable and
serious
The funny man or comic is
portrayed as funny, unintelligent or
unorthodox
The term feed comes from the
way a straight man will set up
jokes for—or "feed" them to—their
partner.
Double Acts
 Famous Double
Acts in Scottish
Theatre include:
 Francie and Josie
 The Krankies
In the 1960’s, as a couple of
Glasgow wide boys, their patter was
wonderful and entered the Scottish
lexicon. The ritual chat up line "Yiz
daancin'?" "Yiz aaskin'?" "Ah'm
aaskin'." "Ah'm daancin'" still
resonates to this day.
Audience Participation
 Music hall performers in many
Scottish halls were closely linked
to their audiences, many were
part-timers who lived with the
people they played for.
Stereotypes
 The use of stereotypes of Scotsmen on the music hall stage
cannot only be understood as an English-inspired mockery.
Scottish stereotypes were also used to project a unified
image of Scotland in reality divided between town-dwellers
and highlanders, and these images were very popular
among exiled Scots.
Stars of the Traditional theatre
 Harry Lauder
 Others
 Women in Scottish
Popular theatre
Essay Question topics
 Discuss the use of music, song, dance and
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character stereotypes
Comment on the use of humour.
How has theatre been influence by the popular
stage?
Appeal of pantomime for Scottish audiences
In CST “recognisable bits and pieces of musichall aesthetics can be found” Do you agree?
Can CST make effective use of song and
music?
What are the characteristic features of Scottish
comedy?