The Music Hall recalled

On Thursday, 4th May, Carnforth Rotarian, David Alexander gave an interesting and entertaining talk on Poetry for the Music Halls. He reminded us we have access to entertainment on TV, radio and film but in Victorian times people went to the music halls for their entertainment, where actors used poetry, in the form of monologues, to engage with their audiences. Some monologues were long recitations of events, many of which were recounted in gruesome detail.
David told us about Bransby Williams an actor who created a variety of characters based on Charles Dicken's novels, before he read a few poems which were familiar to his audience. He began with one by the actor, Milton Hayes entitled 'The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God'. 

Then we were entertained by David's rendition of Lord Tennyson's 'Charge of the Light Brigade'. followed by 'The Wreck of the Schooner Hesperis' by Longfellow.

David concluded with 'The Shooting of Dan McGrew' by Robert Service.

The members really enjoyed David's talk which brought back memories of hearing the poems, especially 'The Charge of the Life Brigade'.