[CIRCUS PERFORMANCE]
For the Benefit of Mr. Crossman Clown To the Horsemanship.
HORSES, FIRE, PANTOMIME, CLOWNING AND SOLDIERS WITH FIXED BAYONETS - A NIGHT AT THE CIRCUS IN 18TH-CENTURY MANCHESTER
UNRECORDED. NOT IN ESTC, OCLC or COPAC. An advertisement with similar text was placed in The Manchester Mercury on Tuesday 13th August (the newspaper was published by the printer of this broadside, Harrop).
A remarkable survival: an 18th-century poster advertising a circus performance in Manchester in which the clown, Mr Crossman, promises extraordinary feats of horsemanship, “trampoline tricks”, pantomime and musical numbers.
This bill advertises a performance “for the benefit of Mr. Crossman” in Manchester 1799. It boasts that the show will encompass “the greatest variety of performances ever seen” in that city. The programme advertised includes Mr Crossman vaulting “20 times backwards and forewords over his horse with his hands and legs tied”, “a new scotch dance called the Banks of the Tweed”, “trampoline tricks…through a balloon of fire”, the performances of soldiers, followed by “a comic piece of horsemanship called the Clown’s Journey to Buxton.” The evening was to culminate in “a new Harlequin Pantomime” called “the Tumblers Wedding.”
At the foot of the sheet is a note stating that tickets for the performance were available directly from Crossman and with various other proprietors around the city of Manchester. Tickets were priced at 2s in the boxes, 1s in the pit and 6d in the gallery.
