A penny gaff was a form of popular entertainment for the lower classes in 19th-century

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It consisted of short, theatrical entertainments which could be staged wherever space permitted, such as the back room of a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

or small hall. Unsophisticated, the props and scenery rarely consisted of more than a stage and a piano. The lessee of the venue would often stand by the stage, calling out when each act should finish in an attempt to maximise the evening's revenue. Clowning, dancing, singing and plays were all featured in the penny gaffs. Easy to perform, well-known to the audience, and with simple exciting stories, the deeds of famous

highwaymen A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...

, robbers and murderers, such as those featured in '' The Newgate Calendar'' were popular subjects for the plays. The stories of the 18th-century robber

Jack Sheppard John Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), nicknamed "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter, but began committing thef ...

, who escaped from prison on numerous occasions, and the gory

Red Barn Murder The Red Barn Murder was an 1827 murder in Polstead, Suffolk, England. A young woman, Maria Marten, was shot dead by her lover William Corder at the Red Barn, a local landmark. The two had arranged to meet before eloping to Ipswich. Corder se ...

were among the most enduring. Mangled versions of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's plays were also regularly performed. The time constraints meant the stories would often become unrecognisable, with the final act performed in a flurry of activity. If the owner called time, the play would have to be concluded regardless of what point in the script the actors had reached.

Joseph Merrick Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890) was an English man known for his severe physical deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "The Elephant Man", and then went to live at the London Hospital, ...

, the so-called Elephant Man, was exhibited at penny gaffs. As the gaffs became more popular, larger, more spacious venues opened to accommodate them. The

Rotunda A rotunda () is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (an example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). ...

in Blackfriars Road, the largest venue in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, could seat 1,000 people and at its peak exhibited shows lasting between an hour and two and a half hours. For the more discerning patron, it offered better seating at the price of tuppence or threepence. The established penny gaff theatres were feared as breeding grounds for criminals by the Victorian moral reformers, as, in the words of one city

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

: "no respectable person goes, so they have it all their own way, and corrupt the minds of youth without rebuke".

Etymology

The name ''penny gaff'' derived from the entrance fee, which was normally one

penny A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is ...

, and from the name for a

cock fight Cockfighting is a blood sport involving domesticated roosters as the combatants. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term ...

ing pit. The shows were popular from about 1830 to around 1870, by which time the street culture that had spawned the impromptu performances had largely disappeared.

References

Sources

* * * See Chapter 16. * * {{Refend Theatre in England

Etymology

See also

References

Sources