|
|
Introduction
In the 19th century topical subjects began to be included in pantomime stories. The Birth of the Steam Engine or Harlequin Locomotive and Joe Miller and his Men was a pantomime that appeared shortly after the first railway engine made its journey from Stockton to Darlington.
By the 1840s the subject matter of Harlequinades had become more and more nonsensical. Pantomimes such as 'Harlequin and the Tyrant of Gobblemupandshrunkemdowno', and 'The Doomed Princess of the Fairy Hall with Forty Blood-red Pillars', told imaginative stories dominated by tomfoolery and slapstick.
|
   |
Jack and the Beanstalk, 1899 |
The 1843 Act of Parliament
In 1843 a parliamentary Act stipulated that any theatre could now produce a play containing spoken dialogue. Before this date only some theatres were granted such a licence. Harlequin chase scenes were mimed, so theatres had been able to produce pantomime without the appropriate theatre licences. After this law was passed new writers began to script pantomimes.
Most pantomimes can be traced back to one of five sources: old English folk tales; the popular 18th century book The Arabian Nights; Madam d'Aulnoy's Fairy tales; French poet Charles Perrault's Mother Goose; and writers J.R.Planché and H.J.Byron's pantomimes.
Pantomime Writers
Two writers predominated in London pantomimes, Henry James Byron and James Robinson Planché. H.J. Byron had introduced burlesques into the theatre, and was a theatre manager and a playwright. Both writers specialised in puns or word play, a tradition that continues into pantomime today. Planche's stories, originally written in the 18th century included Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard and Puss in Boots.
|
|
|
Jack and the Beanstalk |
Pantomime Stories
Stories derived from English folk tales or ballads include: Dick Whittington and his Cat, Robinson Crusoe, Babes in the Wood, Robin Hood, St George and the Dragon, and Little Goody Two Shoes.
Other stories derive from Madam d'Aulnoy's 1721 tales published in France. These include Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and a version of Cinderella.
Other pantomime stories come from the book The Arabian
Nights, which was first published in the UK between 1704
and 1714. Stories from The Arabian Nights include:
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin
and Sinbad the Sailor.
Finally Mother Goose comes from French poet and essayist
Charles Perrault who wrote a book of the same name dedicated
to the King of France's niece. Cinderella is one
of the tales in this book.
By the 1870s the fashion for Harlequinades was dying out and most pantomimes were drawing on fairy tales and nursery rhymes such as Aladdin, Cinderella and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
