Even in 1885 the subjects of pantomimes were similar to today. The Theatre Royal, Leamington, saw a version of Robin Hood performed. Some of the characters are familiar; we have Maid Marion [sic], Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck and more. No panto would be complete without the Sheriff of Nottingham, although here he seems to be a little hard-done by; he comes home unannounced to find two of Robin’s merry men trying to woo his maids, and is rewarded by being robbed. Very merry!
It’s a slightly unusual start, too. We begin at the home of a Demon, attended by his Imps. The general plot sees the Demon try to woo Maid Marion, with The Fairy Buttercup and Puck (a spot of merging of stories?) trying to stop him in his foul designs.
All is well in the end, of course, the Fairy saves the day and a bunch of harlequins and clowns appear at the end to sign everyone off in good cheer.
He’s behind you?
The Warwick Advertiser of January 2nd 1886 gives a report on the narrative; it also adds the traditions of characters such as Robin Hood played by a woman (in this case one Miss Freda Conway), but there’s little about how the audience responds to the panto. Any aficionados on panto history who’d like to fill me in? Should I be booing the villains in the 1880s?
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You might like the following extract from a letter written to Miss Annie Townsend from her sister Hester, 13 January 1902 [Warwickshire County Record Office, CR4651/158]. I’ve left the spelling as the original!
‘We went to such a lovely Pantomine on Saturday in Brighton it was called “Mother Goose & the Golden Eggs”. The Goose was very sweet indeed & so was Mother Goose. There was one scene in an old Enchanted Abbey, and the Hag of the tombs & a whole troop of bats came & danced, & poor old Mother Goose & her Goose came by that way & it lightened & terrible noises were heard & they were nearly frightened out of their wits, & the bats came up from the floar & disapeared down the floor & kept springing out from little doors all over the place; it was exciting. The set did look so pretty yesterday it was a lovely pale blue & blue sky all over it.’
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