author
R. J. Broadbent
A lively early-20th-century theatre writer, this author is best remembered for exploring the long, varied history of pantomime and for documenting Liverpool’s stage life in remarkable detail.
1 Audiobook
A History of Pantomime
by R. J. Broadbent
About the author
R. J. Broadbent was a British theatre historian and writer active in the early 1900s. Confirmed works include A History of Pantomime (published in 1901) and Annals of the Liverpool Stage: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Together with Some Account of the Theatres and Music Halls in Bootle and Birkenhead (1908). Sources also identify him as the author of Stage Whispers.
His writing centers on performance history. A History of Pantomime traces the development of pantomime across different eras and traditions, while Annals of the Liverpool Stage gathers a detailed record of theatres, performers, and productions connected with Liverpool and nearby towns. That combination suggests a writer deeply interested in both the broad story of popular entertainment and the local details that bring theatre history to life.
Very little biographical information about Broadbent himself appears to be readily confirmed online, so the surviving books do most of the talking. What comes through clearly is a patient researcher with a strong enthusiasm for the stage and a talent for preserving theatrical history that might otherwise have been lost.