3-034-887 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Pantomimes: preparing for the transformation scene, 1871. 'Our Artist has justly thought that the immense preparations necessary at Christmas for the successful production of a pantomime would excite curiosity. People in general are apt to think that a pantomime is a slight affair...; but to the manager and player it is an onerous undertaking...The arrangements for the grand effects and groupings of the Transformation are of the most complex description. The mechanical results are matters of serious effort, and require the most persistent attention. The reader will gain some notion of the anxiety and bustle behind the scenes on such occasions. The green-room is a place of confusion and perplexity. Here, one of the fairies...is in haste to have her wings adjusted to her shoulders, others having been already supplied with their feathers; and some are engaged in the accidents connected with their various appearances. Here, too, the cupids await their advent, and masks are suited to the emblematic characters with which a good harlequinade usually abounds. We may note, too, "the old, familiar faces" of clown, harlequin, pantaloon, and columbine, and read in them the indications of coming trials and uncertain triumphs'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.