Astley’s Amphitheatre: The Circus Comes to Regency England
In my latest book The Accidental Debutante the heroine, Eliza Gray, is the star acrobatic rider in Prebbles Flying Circus which is enjoying a residency during the social Season of 1817 at the famous Astley’s Amphitheatre. This impressive building could be found on the outskirts of fashionable London on the south bank of the Thames. Today, in the gardens at St Thomas’s Hospital a flagstone marks the spot.
When Eliza was performing there on her beautiful black horse, Percy, the grand building with its vast indoor arena and adjacent stage had been rebuilt in 1803. Like many London theatres at the time it was prone to fire and had been burned down many times only to rise again, an even grander phoenix from the ashes.
Entertainment in London at the time brought all the classes together. The two main theatres had their Royal Boxes filled with the Prince of Wales, his mistresses and cronies. The pit and upper boxes overflowed with ordinary Londoners, eating, drinking and plying their trades, all very vocal with catcalls and loud conversations with the actors and each other. Even more egalitarian were the out of the way theatres of Sadlers Wells, famous for its water extravaganzas, and Astley’s Amphitheatre, initially a showcase for virtuosic equestrian skills.
The newly rebuilt Astley’s where Eliza Gray performed had the largest stage in London. There was also an adjacent ring for the horse-riding feats and a ramp whereby the animals could be ridden up onto the main stage. Jane Austen’s Emma has Robert Martin taking Harriet Smith to a performance, with happy consequences.
My heroine Eliza Gray had been lost on the streets of Bath, aged seven, and when found by Mrs Prebbles trained up as a dancer and acrobat on horseback. At nineteen, Eliza decides to run away to try and find her parents and live a more normal life than the itinerant life of the circus which had given her the only home she had known. Despite danger, shock and thrills along the way, this bold move for Eliza also has a happy outcome. By happy chance she is taken in by the family of Alick and Corinna Wolfe (first met in my second book An Unsuitable Heiress) and various new friends follow, along with being presented to High Society, attracting two suitors, being involved in a prestigious horse race, gaining an inheritance – and finally love.