While in London last month, I went to Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop in Covent Garden. That's where I picked up reproduction prints for a Victorian toy theatre version of Oliver Twist.
I haven't built
the theatre yet, though I already have a toy theatre of Great Expectations. As today is the birthday of Charles Dickens, I
thought I'd share some images of the prints I bought. They're reproduced from
actual designs published by John Redington.
The first step
in the process is to build the proscenium. Below is what Redington's proscenium
looked like. Notice that spectators can be seen in boxes on either side of the
stage. You can also build up the proscenium with pieces meant to give it extra
height, if you want.
Pollock's will
also sell you a reproduction of the script that Victorian children would
use when enacting productions of Oliver
Twist. In their version, the play opens at the "Three Cripples,"
which is the name of an infamous tavern in Dickens's novel. Here's what it
looked like in the imagination of a Victorian toymaker:
The second scene
is in a workhouse, which is where Dickens begins his novel. The reason it doesn't look
as bleak as you might expect is because this is where Mrs. Corney and Mr. Bumble meet
to discuss where to apprentice Oliver. Strangely enough, the script doesn't
contain the story's most famous line: "Please, sir, I want some more." Young thespians could have added it
in, of course.
As in the novel,
Oliver is apprenticed to Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker. Noah teases him,
telling Oliver his "mother was a right down bad 'un." The two fight,
and there is even a special double character figure of the two of them
fighting. When Mr. Bumble sees this, he resolves to lock the boy up and inform
the workhouse board. Oliver decides he must run away at once, and the curtain
falls on Act I.
The second act
opens with a scene of the road to London. The gothic ruins in this scene look
like they come from another play. This is the road to where? Well, one of the
extra pieces that comes with the set is a milestone showing it is twelve
miles to London, so that could certainly cue the audience into where the scene
is. It's along this road that Oliver meets the Artful Dodger, who invites him
back to Fagin's house, which is the next scene.
Below is the
interior of Fagin's house. In the background are stolen handkerchiefs, one of
which resembles a Union Jack for some reason. The stage directions call for
"Thieves discovered smoking" and Dodger enters with Oliver. The young
orphan marvels at all of the handkerchiefs, and Fagin sends him out with Dodger
and Charley, telling him, "do whatever they tell you." Oliver agrees,
and the boys go to our next scene, which is a street in Clerkenwell.
The street scene
below could no doubt be used in a variety of plays, but the script suggests it
be the setting for a surprisingly expository scene. We don't actually see
Dodger and Charley robbing Mr. Brownlow and Oliver being caught by mistake.
Instead Dodger simply narrates: "Oliver was with us, and just as we nabbed
the wipe, he turned round; we cut--Oliver run, and they run arter him, thinking
he was a thief." The boy is then taken to Mr. Brownlow's house.
Maybe we weren't
expecting the pink walls, but I suppose this looks like a typical middle-class
Victorian home. Prominently displayed is a portrait that resembles Oliver so
much that Mrs. Bedwin remarks upon it. Mr. Brownlow notices the resemblance,
too, and tells Oliver, "Your likeness to one whom I once dearly
loved--will make me regard you with interest and affection." Mr. Brownlow's
friend is skeptical, but Oliver is sent back outside to pay a bill to the
bookseller.
Scene 8 returns
to the street, where Nancy and Bill Sykes kidnap Oliver and take him back to
Fagin's house. That means the next two scenes in a row repeat previous
backdrops. We then return to a chamber in Mr. Brownlow's house. Wait a minute,
this is Mr. Brownlow's house? Who knew Mr. Brownlow was into interior
decorating with an orientalist aesthetic. According to George Speaight's
history of the toy theatre, this scene was actually pirated from a design for a
rival publisher's toy theatre version of Forty
Thieves.
We next return
to Fagin's house, where the thieves (but not forty of them) plan to use Oliver
to break into Mrs. Maylie's House. No, I'm not sure what's up with those potted
plants, but it is a lovely moon. Oliver is captured, of course, and we get to
see Sykes with a pistol. The script says Sykes is supposed to re-enter
"with pistols" but only one pistol is on the character sheet. As
Oliver is wounded, the curtain falls on Act II.
Act III opens in
a hall in the house of Mrs. Maylie. The interior of the house is a bit more
convincing to me than the exterior, but the scene is brief, and we are quickly
transported to London Bridge. Nancy meets with Mr. Brownlow while Noah spies on
them. Another street scene follows, where Noah tells Sykes. I'm skipping over
these images to get to the really frightening one: Sykes's garret where he
murders Nancy.
Another scene at
Mr. Brownlow's follows, but the climax of the play is on Jacob's Island. The
stage directions state: "The white part of the window to be cut out, and
the Room in Set Piece to be placed at the back of the opening." We get to
see inside the building, and then have the scene outside on the roof as Sykes
is hunted to his death.
