Printed handbill advertising performances of 'Little Toddlekins!' and 'Going to the Derby' at the Theatre Royal of the 4th Division, Sevastopol, 1855

Plays and musicals were among the recreations pursued by troops in the Crimea. Among the performers listed on the bill is Captain Maxwell Earle of the 57th (The West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot, a leading light of the 4th Division's theatricals. Earle wrote to his father in January 1856:

'Our theatre, a handsome building is nearly completed and we hope to give another performance early next week. The 2nd Batt[alio]n of the Rifles performed two days ago, and gave great satisfaction especially to one person, a little more vulgar than the rest who stood up in the middle of the performance and declared that 'it was much better than the 4th Div[isio]n".'