Equestrian Drama (Article)

Equestrian Drama, form of entertainment, popular in London in the first half of the 19th century, which evolved out of the feats of horsemanship shown at Astley's Amphitheatre. The first was The Blood-Red Knight; or, The Fatal Bridge (1810) by J. H. Amherst, who was also responsible for such later spectacular shows as The Battle of Waterloo (1824) and Buonaparte's Invasion of Russia; or, The Conflagration of Moscow (1825), in both of which horses and their riders figured largely. One of the most successful plays adapted for Astley's was Richard III, with the leading role allotted to Richard's horse White Surrey; but the most famous of all equestrian dramas was Mazeppa, based by H. M. Milner on Byron's poem and first seen in London in 1823. The part of Mazeppa was afterwards associated entirely with Adah Isaacs Menken, who first appeared in it in the United States in 1863. Although the fashion for equestrian drama soon died out, real horses were used on stage at Drury Lane as late as 1909.