Booth Theatre Posters

In 1996 the Department of Drama, assisted by a generous subvention from the University, was able to acquire the unique theatrical collection of Professor Michael Booth.

The collection takes the form of posters, playbills, paintings and costume _designs spanning the history of British theatre from the 18th century to the Edwardian period.

Michael Booth, who retired as Professor of Theatre at the University of Victoria, British Columbia in 1996, was born in Shanghai. He received his university education in British Columbia and London and was responsible for pioneering the study of 19th century popular theatre. This began with his book English Melodrama (1965). Since then his most influential writing can be found in the monumental five-volume edition of English Plays of the Nineteenth Century (1969-76), Victorian Spectacular Theatre 1850-1910 (1981 ), Theatre in the Victorian Age (1991 ), as well as in scores of journal articles over the last 40 years.

Michael Booth chaired the Department of Drama, University of Guelph, Canada (1967- 74) and was the foundation Professor of Theatre Studies, University of Warwick, England (1975-84) before taking up his position at Victoria. He established strong connections with Australian universities and visited the Universities of New South Wales and Newcastle as a research scholar on a number of occasions.