The Victorian Toy Theatre is an English tradition that began around the year 1811 when John K. Green or William West (a printer and his assistant) began to promote miniature stage plays for theater goers to take home as souvenirs of stage productions.
The toys became popular in their own right by 1830, and soon entire plays were produced and adapted for home production on a miniature stage lit with candles. The plays were the standard melodramas of the day, and offer a unique window in the costumes, sets, and staging of British theater of this period. The plays could be purchased plain (uncolored) or hand colored, and the prices ranged from a few pennies to about a shilling. Soon the toy theatre plays were adapted for younger children and printed in mass quantities, these smaller and less elaborate versions would be the most popular, and began to appear in the late 1840’s and would be a staple of British childhood for nearly one hundred years.
The popularity of these plays waxed and waned, and with other more sophisticated entertainments and cheaper imports from Germany, the British toy theatre began to become increasingly scarce. Robert Louise Stevenson remembered them fondly in an essay entitle "A Penny Plain and Twopence Coloured" (1884) and kicked off a revival of interest in the toy theatre, soon the revived Toy Theatre became a Christmas tradition.
Many noted authors, actors and statesmen were fond devotees of the art including Winston Churchill, Stevenson, Ralph Fiennes, Terry Gilliam, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), G. K. Chesterton, among others.
The plays themselves eventually become collectable antiques, and more recently, various specialty firms have reprinted these plays since the last original printer, Benjamin Pollock, closed in 1944. Today many artists, men and women, and children of all ages enjoy this hobby in the UK. It is now growing in interest and practice on this side of the Atlantic as well.
Today plays are produced in all styles and medium, all miniature and all inspired by the Victorian original. We hope you will see our version of a Victorian literary classic and toy theatre staple, Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, or the Parish Boy’s Progress, will be presented by Eric & Rebecca Cook and Friends, at the Kittanning Free Library 280 N. Jefferson St., (Sat., Dec. 3, 2011) at both 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. A short lecture on the history of the theatre will follow the 2 p.m. performance. Please call 724.543.1383 for more information.*Thanks to Eric Cook for providing this information.
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