THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Victorian toy theatres charming and exquisitely designed miniature worlds have inspired theatre royalty for decades. Today, the tradition is being kept alive by a small but talented network of makers

- RHIANNON BATTEN

The lights dim, chatter fizzles out and all eyes turn to the soft, square glow in front of us. The box it’s coming from is the size of a vintage TV, but it’s not a screen we’re looking at. It’s a toy theatre, displaying a miniature version of Jack and the Beanstalk, adapted and performed by aficionado Sarah Peasgood. The theatre’s paper figures, jewel-coloured proscenium and enchanted florets are so exquisitely rendered and manipulated that, for the next 20 minutes, the audience is spellbound. If the spectacle is gripping, however, the tale of these tiny stages is a fascinating story in its own right.

British toy theatres (also known as paper theatres or juvenile drama) date from 1811, when apprentice printer John Kilby Green was commissioned to produce sheets of theatrical characters by London publisher William West. At the time, theatre was the principal entertainment and, spotting an opportunity, Green suggested printing characters from popular pantomimes and melodramas onto sheets of paper. Primarily this was for children to cut out, mount on card and play with, but adults also collected them as souvenirs of their favourite shows. The first one, Mother Goose, sold thousands and West took the idea and ran with it, becoming, effectively, the founder of English toy theatre.

‘If there was a new play on at one of the London theatres and everybody was talking about it, the publishers would send an artist to the theatre to sketch the costumes, actors and scenery, and then turn those sketches into printed images to sell in their shops,’ explains historian and toy theatre expert Alan Powers. ‘You could buy the set, and a script, and do your own show at home.’ Available as either ‘penny plain’ or ‘tuppence coloured’, the cheaper black-and-white versions extended the DIY component, offering the opportunity for colouring in and, perhaps, tinselling with foil.