Circus and Stage: The Theatrical Adventures of Rose Edouin and G. B. W. Lewis(Biography)

Rose Edouin (née Bryer) and her husband, entrepreneur and circus performer George Benjamin William Lewis, have received little attention in the history of Australian theatre, and certainly few now would be aware of the achievements of this couple. Fame is ephemeral. For more than half a century, from the 1850s, Edouin and Lewis forged high-profile careers that encompassed circus, the popular stage and theatre management in Europe, Australia, China, India and New Zealand. Actress Rose started as a child star in London, toured the gold towns of Victoria and acted in and directed popular theatre in India and China before opening the Academy of Music/Bijou Theatre in Bourke Street, Melbourne. George brought the equestrian/horse circus to Melbourne, opened the building that became the Princess Theatre, built theatres in Calcutta, was an early employer of JC Williamson, and for a decade, in the late 1800s, managed the Academy of Music/Bijou Theatre. Circus and Stage tells this couple’s intriguing and important story.

About the Author :
Dr Mimi Colligan writes on 19th century popular culture. Canvas Documentaries, her history of panoramic entertainment in Australia and New Zealand (including theatre panoramas), was published in 2002 by Melbourne University Publishing. A primary school ‘drop-out’ through ill health, she later graduated from university with an honours degree; she worked as a research assistant in Monash University’s English and History Departments, and was awarded a Ph.D. from Monash University in 1987. An interest in images as historical documents has led to her writing and contributing to Performing Arts Museum and Ballarat Art Gallery exhibitions. She has also curated exhibitions, including ‘Cremorne Gardens, Richmond’ for a property developer, and ‘Melbourne Theatres in Transition 1840s–1940s’ for the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. She also researched and wrote the Heritage Council’s report Her Majesty’s Theatre 1886–1986. Mimi has published numerous articles in scholarly journals on subjects ranging from biographical articles on often obscure entertainers for the Australian Dictionary of Biography to the State Library of Victoria’s Shake­speare window. She also researched images and wrote many Stamp Heritage Books for Australia Post while Senior Research Officer from 1987 to 1993. Mimi is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria; an Adjunct Research Fellow with the National Centre for Australian and Indigenous Studies at Monash University; a committee member of Theatre Heritage Australia Inc.; a Board Member of the International Panorama Council; and a member of the Victorian Working Party of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, as well as a contributor. Mimi has attended and given papers on panoramas/cycloramas at many IPC conferences in China, the USA and Europe. Travel for conferences (largely self-funded) over the last ten years enabled her to research this book at libraries in Hong Kong, Kolkata, London and New York.