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Astley's Amphitheatre
Philip Astley opened Astley’s Amphitheatre in 1777, and, not surprisingly for a former riding school owner, featured lots of horses. The amphitheatre mixed circus with theatre, having a circus ring attached to a stage and exploiting the circus tricks which horses could do. Astley’s was renowned for its historical military and equestrian dramas, which it continued to produce until its destruction in 1895. The huge size of the stage space meant that it could produce huge military extravaganzas with hundreds of soldiers, horses and cannons.
When Lord Sanger and his brother took over the Amphitheatre, in 1871, they moved the style of performance towards a more zoological style. One production featured not only several hundred humans in the cast but fifty-two horses, fifteen elephants, two lions on leads, kangaroos, pelicans, reindeer, chamois and many more animals.
At Astley’s, the plot was not as important as the spectacle. In this respect, it can be compared to special effect films, where the story is
secondary to the amazing spectacles created onscreen.
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