ABSTRACT
Alongside the penny gaffs were the subscription or private theatres which existed to allow ambitious amateurs to pay to perform. Below the ‘minor’ theatres were the places where the poorest of the poor enjoyed the theatre, called ‘penny gaffs’. The ‘gaffs’ were often known as ‘blood tubs’, though this appellation originated with the Coburg, or Royal Victoria, and derived from that theatre’s penchant for gory murder melodramas. Lit by a few candles or two or four gas jets – useful to spectators who wished to light their pipes – the whole was clearly dangerous, but there seem rarely to have been significant accidents at penny gaffs. Dickens, for instance, described Mr Wopsle performing in such a theatre in Great Expectations, and several street ballads mocked these would-be stars. The lowest form of performance was that to be found on the streets of the cities, especially London.
