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A tale of two lovers
set against the backdrop
of raw and beautiful
19th century Britain
Featuring the infamous
Madam Bo Bo
With the introduction of the Poor Law and the end of outdoor relief, many poor people preferred to wander the land, prepared to face an erratic and dangerous lifestyle, rather than cope with the horrors of the workhouse.
Our heroines FLORA and MAUD epitomize the spirit of these adventurous times. Unlike the pictures painted in the Victorian novellas of the day - where pathetic waifs stood shivering in doorways, dying of tuberculosis and broken hearts, these were rough and raucous times for many working class women.
Particularly fascinating is a little blip in history around the middle and end of the 19th century, when music hall flourished in Britain, and the (often working-class) women were particularly popular as male impersonators. Vesta Tilley, Burlington Bertie from Bow, even Marie Lloyd strutted the stage as a swaggering soldier or womanising dandy. As a forerunner to the feminist tradition, they humorously encouraged their largely female audiences to reconsider their lives with unsympathetic husbands and run away with them!
These saucy performers were immensely popular, sometimes gaining fame, fortune and enormous power as entertainers. They usually wrote and directed their own material, and sometimes went on to manage their own theatres. These women straddled the classes. The so-called ‘respectable classes’ despised music hall artists, particularly women, but this was mixed with envy.
They led carefree lives, but fame brought its own pressures: Marie Lloyd died from overwork, George Leybourne - ‘Champagne Charlie’ - was dead at forty-two from drink, with less than five pounds to his name, despite his huge success. Music hall artists were notorious spendthrifts. But there was much to admire in that as well. They invested in the moment. They gave money to friends and strangers alike who were down on their luck, living the lives of true Bohemians.
Porsini, the man who brought ‘Punch’ to England from Italy, made a fortune - and ended his days in the workhouse. He said, in spite of his final backbreaking years of hardship, he could never regret his life of freedom and excitement as an itinerant.
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