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Jacobin Revolutionary Theatre and the Early Circus: Astley's Dublin Amphitheatre in the 1790s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2006

HELEN BURKE
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Abstract

This essay examines the politics of the disturbances and riots that rocked Philip Astley's Dublin Amphitheatre, the site of Ireland's first circus, during the 1790s. Astley received the first legal recognition for his circus from a colonial administration in Ireland because of the loyalism of his entertainments and, throughout the 1790s, his Dublin Amphitheatre worked to mobilize the Irish masses in the interest of the crown and the empire. But, as this essay shows, these loyalist entertainments were also repeatedly disrupted by the counter-theatre of the Jacobin-inspired group, the United Irishmen, who used this site to rally support not only for the Irish nationalist revolution but also for the broader democratic revolution then being staged all around the Atlantic rim.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Research International , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
International Federation for Theatre Research 2006

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