In the days before digital recordkeeping, identities could be fluid, particularly in the arts. These articles explore the stories of the sometimes elusive expatriate performing artists working in early twentieth-century Britain, and the nineteenth-century origins of the forms of entertainment that brought these artists to Britain.

Banner: Detail from a Yoshio Markino illustration for a souvenir programme for the 1904 production of Darling of the Gods. Author’s own collection.