Drury Lane Pantomime
‘T HERE was always one of the big shows at Drury *" Lane at Christmas, "Humpty Dumpty," "Cinderella,"
"Jack and the Beanstalk," and all the rest of them, one year after another, sticking very close to tradition, but every season infusing new life into the old story. Tradition demanded that the Dame should be played by a man, one of the famous comedians: the principal bey was always played by a girl, a tall,
statuesque, well proportioned girl in tights. She had to have a good figure. And there was always the good fairy in some shape. All the big spectacular shows were put on at Drury Lane, because its huge stage made any display, any illusion possible. With some of these big melodramatic spectacles, with ship-wrecks, train smashes
earthquakes and horse-races, you must have a very large stage to present them effectively, and convincingly. Otherwise, you see too much of the machinery that works it. I remember, many years ago, seeing a play called "The Whip," a racing drama, staged in a small New Zealand theatre on a small stage. They used live horses ail right, but they were firmly harnassed and held down, and though they kept on galloping the boards beneath their feet moved, so that they remained in view, until the winner, by an adjustment of the machinery drew ahead. If they hadn’t been clamped to the stage, about two strides would have teken them from one side to the other.-(" Shoes and Ships and Sealing-Wax" by Nelle Scanian. 2YA, January 14.)
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19410207.2.10.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 85, 7 February 1941, Page 5
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258Drury Lane Pantomime New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 85, 7 February 1941, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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