Drury Lane Design Collection
Costume Design
1910 (designed)
1910 (designed)
| Artist/Maker |
Costume design by Comelli for Fairies in Jack and the Beanstalk, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 1910.
Jack and the Beanstalk Jack & the Beanstalk is thought to have originated as Jack the Giant Killer. The first performance of Jack the Giant Killer, as a Christmas play at Drury Lane in 1773, was written by David Garrick and introduced the character of Jack as a lazy but clever hero. The first recorded pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk; or Harlequin and the Ogre was performed in 1819 in which a famous young actress called Eliza Povey played the first ever principal boy, Idle Jack. The basic plot of this pantomime was taken from the English fairy tale, in which Jack trades his cow for magic beans and then seeks adventure and good fortune at the top of the beanstalk. Jack & the Beanstalk also introduced one of the most famous Dames to the English stage in 1886 when Dan Leno made his debut at Drury Lane as Dame Trot, Jack's nagging mother. By the early twentieth century pantomimes were growing increasingly long and elaborate and often included grand processions, huge sets and elaborate ballet sequences in which hundreds of acrobats, dancers, and children took part.
In the 1910 production (produced by Arthur Collins, Frank Dix and J.Hickory Wood) Jack Halleybut was played by Miss Dolly Castles, Princess Dorothy was played by Miss Julia James, Titania was played by Miss Hilda Playfair and Puck was played by Miss Anita Edis. The music was composed and arranged by J.M.Glover.
Comelli (1858-1925) was the house designer of the Royal Opera House from the late 1880s to the early 1920s. During this period he also worked for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and also designed costumes from a number of Gilbert&Sullivan productions.
This design comes from a collection of costume designs, some of which are costumier's copies, which were originally part of the Archives of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Jack and the Beanstalk Jack & the Beanstalk is thought to have originated as Jack the Giant Killer. The first performance of Jack the Giant Killer, as a Christmas play at Drury Lane in 1773, was written by David Garrick and introduced the character of Jack as a lazy but clever hero. The first recorded pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk; or Harlequin and the Ogre was performed in 1819 in which a famous young actress called Eliza Povey played the first ever principal boy, Idle Jack. The basic plot of this pantomime was taken from the English fairy tale, in which Jack trades his cow for magic beans and then seeks adventure and good fortune at the top of the beanstalk. Jack & the Beanstalk also introduced one of the most famous Dames to the English stage in 1886 when Dan Leno made his debut at Drury Lane as Dame Trot, Jack's nagging mother. By the early twentieth century pantomimes were growing increasingly long and elaborate and often included grand processions, huge sets and elaborate ballet sequences in which hundreds of acrobats, dancers, and children took part.
In the 1910 production (produced by Arthur Collins, Frank Dix and J.Hickory Wood) Jack Halleybut was played by Miss Dolly Castles, Princess Dorothy was played by Miss Julia James, Titania was played by Miss Hilda Playfair and Puck was played by Miss Anita Edis. The music was composed and arranged by J.M.Glover.
Comelli (1858-1925) was the house designer of the Royal Opera House from the late 1880s to the early 1920s. During this period he also worked for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and also designed costumes from a number of Gilbert&Sullivan productions.
This design comes from a collection of costume designs, some of which are costumier's copies, which were originally part of the Archives of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Drury Lane Design Collection (named collection) |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Costume design by Comelli for Fairies in Jack and the Beanstalk, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 1910. Drury Lane Design Collection. |
| Physical description | Costume design by Comelli for Fairies in Jack and the Beanstalk, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 1910. A watercolour costume sketch showing a young woman dressed in a pale turquoise blue dress. The bodice and body of the dress are closely fitting but the dress flares out at the hem and the open sleeves are made from long, hanging lengths of pleated blue fabric. Both the sleeves and skirt of the dress are decorated with leaf green spirals and sprays of pale pink roses. Her long blonde hair is loose and she wears a pale pink hat with a wide brim which turns up at the corners and decorated with sprays of gold. Behind her shoulders are a pair of wing butterfly style wings, edged with pink. In her left hand she carries a heart shaped, gold harp decorated with sprays and spirals of blue. The design is signed and dated Comelli, 1910. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Place depicted | |
| Literary reference | Jack and the Beanstalk |
| Summary | Costume design by Comelli for Fairies in Jack and the Beanstalk, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 1910. Jack and the Beanstalk Jack & the Beanstalk is thought to have originated as Jack the Giant Killer. The first performance of Jack the Giant Killer, as a Christmas play at Drury Lane in 1773, was written by David Garrick and introduced the character of Jack as a lazy but clever hero. The first recorded pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk; or Harlequin and the Ogre was performed in 1819 in which a famous young actress called Eliza Povey played the first ever principal boy, Idle Jack. The basic plot of this pantomime was taken from the English fairy tale, in which Jack trades his cow for magic beans and then seeks adventure and good fortune at the top of the beanstalk. Jack & the Beanstalk also introduced one of the most famous Dames to the English stage in 1886 when Dan Leno made his debut at Drury Lane as Dame Trot, Jack's nagging mother. By the early twentieth century pantomimes were growing increasingly long and elaborate and often included grand processions, huge sets and elaborate ballet sequences in which hundreds of acrobats, dancers, and children took part. In the 1910 production (produced by Arthur Collins, Frank Dix and J.Hickory Wood) Jack Halleybut was played by Miss Dolly Castles, Princess Dorothy was played by Miss Julia James, Titania was played by Miss Hilda Playfair and Puck was played by Miss Anita Edis. The music was composed and arranged by J.M.Glover. Comelli (1858-1925) was the house designer of the Royal Opera House from the late 1880s to the early 1920s. During this period he also worked for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and also designed costumes from a number of Gilbert&Sullivan productions. This design comes from a collection of costume designs, some of which are costumier's copies, which were originally part of the Archives of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. |
| Other number | Jack and the Beanstalk File |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.1998-2010 |
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| Record created | September 15, 2010 |
| Record URL |
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