The Society offers a full programme of shows and talks open to everyone

  • A regular programme of talks by historians, authors and performers
  • Blue Plaque unveilings
  • Variety and Music Hall based shows including an annual Day By The Sea in Eastbourne
  • An annual conference covering all things Music Hall
  • A range of social events from sausage and mash singalong suppers to formal dinners

Members receive discounted rates on all of our events. See below for what is upcoming.

 

3rd British Music Hall Society Conference

Following the success of our second conference at Hoxton Hall in 2024, the third British Music Hall Society Conference will take place on Saturday 21 November 2026. This year's theme is  CATERING FOR PEOPLE’S DESIRES AND NEEDS IN THE MUSIC HALL and we are...

The Cinema Museum
Kennington London United Kingdom SE11 4TH
Saturday 21 November 2026 10:00AM
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Christmas Cracker

The annual Christmas Cracker of the British Music Hall Society held at the Club for Acts and Actors, Bedford Street, Covent Garden.

The Christmas menu is as follows - choices can be made via the Ticketsource booking...

The Club for Acts and Actors
20 Bedford Street London United Kingdom WC2E 9HP
Thursday 03 December 2026 6:30PM
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The Albert Hall of the North: Morecambe Winter Gardens. A talk by Professor Vanessa Toulmin

Tracing the history of Morecambe Winter Gardens within the wider context of seaside developments like Southport and Blackpool, from its heyday hosting everything from classical concerts to boxing, through key owners like Louis Benjamin, its decline and closure, and the campaign to...

The Club for Acts and Actors
20 Bedford Street London United Kingdom WC2E 9HP
Tuesday 19 January 2027 2:00PM
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Elsa Lanchester: Bride of the Hunchback. A talk by MJ Simpson


Though remembered today as a Hollywood actress, Elsa Lanchester was the toast of 1920s London for her cabaret and revue work. With her partner Harold Scott, an expert on early music hall, she lampooned old ballads at her own cabaret venue and later on radio. Forty years later...

The Club for Acts and Actors
20 Bedford Street London United Kingdom WC2E 9HP
Tuesday 16 February 2027 7:00PM
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From Music Hall to Wireless. A talk by Beaty Rubens

Radio's early history was sensational, with the BBC's mission to 'inform, educate and entertain' transforming British cultural life in the 1920s and 30s. But for Music Hall entertainers, the transition to 'wireless' was not always straightforward. Drawing on research for her book Listen In:...

The Club for Acts and Actors
20 Bedford Street London United Kingdom WC2E 9HP
Tuesday 16 March 2027 7:00PM
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Jack Stanford - the Dancing Fool. A talk by Jill Stanford

Jack Stanford (1900-1968) was hailed as "the greatest eccentric dancer of the day". In 2025, the Battersea Society commemorated him with a blue plaque at his former home on Mallinson Road, Battersea.
Using stills, reviews and film clips, Jack’s daughter Jill will share his story, from...

The Club for Acts and Actors
20 Bedford Street London United Kingdom WC2E 9HP
Tuesday 20 April 2027 7:00PM
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Four-legged actor on the Music Hall stage and beyond. ONLINE talk by Tracey Gregory for #MusicHall

Coming soon...

Online
Online
Sunday 16 May 2027 3:00PM
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"They were not really songs at all" - Stand Up Comedy's Music Hall Roots. A talk by Oliver Double

In his 1905 biography, J Hickory Wood found it hard to define what exactly it was that the great music hall comic Dan Leno did in his act. ‘One calls his performance on the halls “songs” for want of a pithy word that is better,’ he wrote. What Wood was picking up on was that...

The Club for Acts and Actors
20 Bedford Street London United Kingdom WC2E 9HP
Tuesday 18 May 2027 7:00PM
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