3-082-045 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Orient" at Olympia, West Kensington, 1895. London stage production. 'In the Galleries; A Street Scene; A Peep at The Ezbekia Square; In the Rue Valide...the superb stage has been utilised by Mr. Bolossy Kiralfy as has never been the case before. The entertainment is called "The Orient," but no mere words can convey an idea of the colour, grace, and movement that are seen in the successive pictures designed by this inventive stage-manager. In fact, the eye cannot possibly take in all that is presented on a stage over one hundred yards from wing to wing...I can conceive no greater pleasure than to be comfortably seated in the large theatre of Olympia after dinner, and to be lost in dreamy imagination concerning the glories of Byzantium, the mysteries of pagan Africa, and the splendid pictures of Westminster and civic London in the olden time. Mr. Joseph Lyons promised on behalf of his fellow-directors that he would give the public something even better than "Venice" or "Constantinople," and he has kept his word. No capital in the wide world can provide the public with such a comprehensive entertainment as can be found at Olympia for the simple shilling'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.