The story of 'Aladdin' comes from the book The Arabian
Nights, first published in England between 1704 and 1714.
This reflected a popular interest at the time in the
Oriental.
The story was first seen on stage in Covent Garden in 1788
in a version by John O'Keefe entitled Aladdin. In
1813 Grimaldi played the dumb slave, a character that has
now disappeared, but was obviously a comic role.
Widow Twankey was first known as Ching Mustapha, in Aladdin
or the Wonderful Lamp, at Covent Garden in 1813. She had
a variety of other names including Wee-Ping, Chow-Chow and Tan-kin
before the name Widow Twankay appeared in 1861 when H.J Byron
introduced it. Twankay was the name of a popular green tea from
China.
The first Widow Twankey was played by James Rogers at the Strand
Theatre on 1st April 1861, in an extravaganza entitled Aladdin
or The Wonderful Scamp.
Introduction
