ABSTRACT
An essential component of everyday life in eighteenth-century Britain and its colonies, public spectacles were large-scale performances that drew together audiences, both formal and informal. Exploring street spectacles such as the Pope burnings and public executions that that excited crowds in London, the Jonkannu ceremonies that provided a form of memory theater for enslaved people in the West Indies, and the elaborate operas, pantomimes, and special effects that enthralled audiences in across the empire, this essay considers the nature of spectacle and its implications for the world around them.
