Barnard’s Alhambra Palace Of Varieties – Programme for this Evening – c. early 1890s

Hull: Barnard’s Alhambra Palace of Varieties, [c. early 1890s].

Rare and apparently unrecorded late-Victorian music-hall programme for Barnard’s Alhambra Palace of Varieties, Hull, printed on both sides of a single sheet. Sheet size approximately 18.9 × 24.9 cm.

The programme provides a vivid snapshot of the mixed entertainment culture of the provincial music hall during the closing decades of the nineteenth century. Printed in bold display type within decorative borders, it opens with an overture by the Alhambra Band and presents a varied bill of performers including Miss Rosina Sipple, “Ballad and Serio Comic”; Don Esparto, “in his drawing-room séance”; Lord George Aytoun, described in the terminology of the period as a Black entertainer and instrumentalist; the Brothers Harrison; Una, “The Flying Beauty”; The Mannons in their comic sketch “The Professor”; and Mons. Reihlac, appearing “in his den of Six Polar Bears”. The entertainment concludes, characteristically, with “God Save the Queen.”

An advertisement printed vertically along the left margin promotes the following Monday’s attractions, including Bros. Phillips & Sisters Lorenzo, Johnny Dwyer, a champion Punch and Judy exhibition, the Sisters Harriett & Maud, Geo. Le Grande’s Frank Mutely, Una and the trained bears. The emphasis on novelty acts, comic entertainment, popular song, acrobatic display and animal performance reflects the competitive nature of provincial variety programming during the period.

The verso, headed “Alhambra Programme”, prints the words to three popular songs — “Call Me Back Again”, “The Maid of the Mill”, and “White Wings” — together with a notice encouraging patrons to purchase the following week’s programme in order to participate in a forthcoming prize competition. Such dual-purpose programme sheets functioned simultaneously as souvenir, song-sheet, advertisement and promotional ephemera.

The programme appears to relate to the Alhambra Palace of Varieties in Porter Street, Hull, one of the principal music-hall and variety venues in the city during the later nineteenth century. The theatre formed part of the flourishing entertainment culture of Victorian Hull and regularly hosted touring singers, comedians, speciality performers, novelty acts and animal exhibitions. The reference to “Barnard’s” reflects the management or proprietorial association of the Barnard theatrical interests with the venue during this period.

Particularly notable is the inclusion of Mons. Reihlac’s troupe of trained polar bears, a striking example of the sensational animal acts which formed an important component of late Victorian popular entertainment. Such performances, together with aerial acts, comic sketches and musical numbers, demonstrate the eclectic nature of the music-hall stage before the emergence of modern variety and cinema.

No copy of this specific programme traced in the British Library, Library Hub, WorldCat, the Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre Collections, Archives Hub, or the principal institutional and commercial records consulted. Apparently unrecorded.

Condition: Single sheet, printed both sides. Light folds, minor creasing, faint soiling and slight marginal wear. Paper stock a little rippled. One-inch closed tear to left hand margin. Complete and very well preserved. Very good condition overall.

A rare survival of Hull music-hall ephemera, documenting the rich variety culture of the late Victorian stage, including popular song, comic entertainment, novelty performance, trained-animal exhibition and provincial theatrical promotion.

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