An evening backstage with Bram

John Buck’s Edinburgh diary from 1887 records an evening that leads from a hotel and dinner to a theatre box and a backstage meeting with Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. Bram appears in the arrangements and hospitality surrounding the performance. Buck gives us a visitor’s view of that working world, rather than the company’s own recollections. Duke University has published selected diary excerpts. They offer a starting point for following the evening and identifying the people Buck encountered.