'Kaleidoscopes of Changing Pictures': Representing nations in toy theatres

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dc.check.date2020-01-25
dc.check.infoAccess to this article is restricted until 24 months after publication by request of the publisher.en
dc.contributor.authorHofer-Robinson, Joanna
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-27T09:57:13Z
dc.date.available2018-02-27T09:57:13Z
dc.date.issued2018-01-25
dc.date.updated2018-02-27T09:45:23Z
dc.description.abstractToy theatre was an adjunct trade to London theatreland in the nineteenth century. Publishers produced miniature versions of popular productions on stage in contemporary playhouses. Consequently, toy theatre has typically been studied as a unique visual record of theatrical scenery and costumes. This article aims to question these assumptions, and to argue that these toys should be critically examined as performances in their own right. In 1854 the Lord Chamberlain’s Office licensed the ‘Grand Military Spectacle’ of ‘The Battle of the Alma’ at Astley’s Amphitheatre. Both the spectacle and the humour of the drama drew on the interplay between domestic and foreign settings and stereotypes. Far from presenting simplified models of place, space, and identification, however, Astley’s used stock characters and generic tropes to play with and unsettle national identities, and to encourage the audience to question press coverage of the Crimean War. At least two toy theatre publishers adapted ‘The Battle of the Alma’ by the end of the year, but each revised the source drama differently. Although J. K. Green’s and W. Webb’s toy theatre scripts and sheets both drew on the stereotypical imaginaries of domestic and foreign cultural geographies used in Astley’s full-scale production, these publishers constructed diverse meanings from familiar tropes. Comparing alternative versions of ‘The Battle of the Alma’ thus identifies divergent ways in which these apparently analogous products adapted the source drama, engaged with discourses of national identity cued in the original production, and negotiated the relationships between theatrical representation and contemporary reportage of the battle. Instead of interpreting toy theatre as an archival record of lost scenery and costumes, this article argues that its scripts and sheets are material evidence of multiple processes of cultural production occurring simultaneously in superficially similar artefacts.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationHofer-Robinson, J. (2018) '‘Kaleidoscopes of Changing Pictures’: Representing Nations in Toy Theatre', Journal of Victorian Culture, 23(1), pp. 45-63. doi:10.1093/jvc/vcx002en
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/jvc/vcx002
dc.identifier.endpage63en
dc.identifier.issn1355-5502
dc.identifier.issued1en
dc.identifier.journaltitleJournal of Victorian Cultureen
dc.identifier.startpage4en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/5548
dc.identifier.volume23en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherOxford University Pressen
dc.rights© 2018 Leeds Trinity University. Published by Oxford University Press. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Victorian Culture following peer review. The version of record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/jvc/vcx002en
dc.subjectToy theatreen
dc.subjectJuvenile dramaen
dc.subjectCultural geographiesen
dc.subjectNational identitiesen
dc.subjectNationalismen
dc.subjectAdaptationen
dc.subjectMilitary spectacleen
dc.subjectBattle of Almaen
dc.subjectCrimean Waren
dc.subjectAstley's Amphitheatreen
dc.title'Kaleidoscopes of Changing Pictures': Representing nations in toy theatresen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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