The Theater in the Victorian Age

[Eva Elisabeth]

Bill, I may be able to give a better reply when I'm back home and can check what I have on theater history. (Tom will sure know btw!)

Lincoln was criticized by the very pious ones for attending theater on Good Friday, but in general his theater attendances didn't stir a special controversy. AFAIK it was similar in Europe/England. I think for this goes "quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi" (what is permitted to Jove is not permitted to an ox) - despite the Royals & Co. were certainly not suspected to take seats in what Tom called the "infamous third tier". Actually Queen Victoria was a great supporter of the theater and tried to make it better accessable to all classes of society (I vaguely remember a special enactment supporting the theaters, I'll look this up).