ACTRESSES AS WORKING WOMEN between the stage and the auditorium, she fundamentally altered the playhouse dynamics Within the closed domestic scenic interior, Vestris seemed to restore the ‘proper’ demarcation of public and private realms, or at least achieved a partial illusion of having done so She also declared bankruptcy twice Marie and Squire Bancroft completed the boxed enclosure, locking it in a proscenium frame; in addition they also eliminated farces and afterpieces from their bills, for without a sexual ambiance the salacious interludes were pointless When the Bancrofts moved to the larger Haymarket they attacked the pit (a prized vantage for connoisseurs of the female leg); they flourished, but by 1880 there were other venues for anatomical display A reputation for excellent entertainments—on stage and in the promenades—made the Alhambra the most popular tourist attraction in mid-Victorian London By the latter decades of the century, most West End managers vehemently claimed to prohibit unauthorized access backstage, implying that despite popular belief to the contrary influential spectators could not approach actresses in the wings, dressing rooms, or green rooms If this prohibition was enforced, the powerfully erogenous backstage would be neutralized, but evidence relating to the Alhambra suggests that the practice endured A letter in the Greater London Record Office pseudonymously signed by a ‘Comic Singer with daughters in the profession’ inquired: ‘why are the men well known for their seductive ways (the military officers as a rule), encouraged and brought behind the scenes to solicit and entice young girls to partake of supper, drives, &c which means indirectly for an immoral purpose[?]’ Distance loaned enchantment, but proximity was better The reason these men wanted to be backstage was clearly related to the performance conventions The ‘Comic Singer’ continues: Who is answerable for the studied indecency of the costumes exhibited in ‘Enchantment and Antiope’[?] In the latter ballet a number of young girls appear in fleshing tights only to represent the nude figure…a small gauze round the waist which could be plainly seen through thus making things more suggestive [than if there was] no extra covering round the loins[,] abdomen[,] or posterior…the dresses were not worn to facilitate art as the girls only moved to a slow movement The thing was only introduced to please the men frequenters of the stalls, a class of men who use the place nightly and more mischief than the prostitutes.31 150