The show must go on: the dramatic history of theatre fires

摘要

Telling stories and entertaining each other with songs and music is a cultural foundation of all societies. As society become more sophisticated, the number of locations and types of structure where entertainment has taken place has expanded. Mass entertainment has required ever larger venues and as the venues changed so did the risks associated with those buildings. Today, you go to the cinema or theatre safe in the knowledge that fire safety and safety standards in general mean that you will go home safely to bed at night. This safety regime is the result of a series of disasters that occurred in a period of around 60 years between the 1860s and the 1930s.