Unlike many Glasgow theatres the Queen's Theatre openly catered for working class audiences and this was reflected in the low admission charges. Situated near Glasgow Cross in Watson Street just off Gallowgate, the theatre opened as the Star Music Hall in the 1870s. It became the Shakespeare Music Hall, New Star Theatre of Varieties and People's Palace Theatre before becoming the Queen's Theatre in 1897. Also known as the New Queen's Theatre, its performances of variety and pantomime were described as "not for the faint hearted".
The pantomime whose programme is illustrated here, Old Mother Hubbard, is a typical Queen's production of the 1930s and 1940s starring regular favourites Sam Murray and Frank and Doris Droy. The bawdy scripts, written in a broad Glasgow dialect by Frank Droy, might have caused offence elsewhere, but audiences at the Queen's knew what to expect. They returned time after time, until the Queen's was destroyed by fire in 1952.
Reference: Mitchell Library, Theatre Collection
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
music halls, New Queen's Theatre, New Star Theatre of Varieties, pantomimes, People's Palace Theatre, Queen's Theatre, Shakespeare Music Hall, Star Music Hall, theatres, variety
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