Playbill advertising the programme at Covent Garden Theatre, 7 January 1856, starting with magic and mystery by Professor Anderson, the Wizard of the North, followed by the pantomime Ye Belle Alliance, or, Harlequin Good Humour and ye Fielde of ye Clothe of Gold. Letterpress and woodcut

Double-sheet letterpress playbill describing the programme on offer at Covent Garden Theatre on the evening of 7 January 1856, featuring a woodcut image of King Henry Vlll and Catherine of Aragon meeting King Francis l and Queen Claude at the diplomatic summit known as The Field of the Cloth of Gold. Also noting the forthcoming matinees of the Wizard of the North on 9 January, and the pantomime on 12 January.

Gabrielle Enthoven Collection

This playbill details the evening's performance at Covent Garden Theatre on 7 January 1856 when the lessee of the theatre was John Henry Anderson (1814-1874), known as 'The Wizard of the North'. The evening began with the 'overture fantastique', The Wizard of the North, followed by a performance of magic and mystery by Professor Anderson. That was followed by: 'the grand national and chivalric pantomime' Ye Belle Alliance, or, Harlequin Good Humour and ye Fielde of ye Clothe of Gold, 'being a legend of the meeting of the monarchs' invented, arranged and produced by Mr. Augustus Harris.

The scenery was by Mr. William Beverley assisted by Messrs. Cuthbert, C. Adams, W. Shalders, W. Glover and numerous assistants, the opening was written by Augustus Sala, the stage machinery by Mr. Sloman, the music composed by Mr. Loder, the conductor and leader of the band Mr. C. Hall, the ballet and dances by Mr. Benjamin Barrett, the comic tricks by The Brothers Brough, Mr. Augustus Harris and Mr. William Dorrington, ‘the novel and costly properties’ by Mr. Prescott and Mr. Moreland, the ladies‘ costumes by Mrs. James assisted by Mrs. Beauchamp, the gentlemen’s costumes by Mr. Smithers assisted by Mr. Lawrence, the armoury by Mr. Hogg, the hats (‘the Chapellerie’) by Mrs. Walker, the copyist Mr. Horton, the prompter Mr. Ranoe, the wigs (‘the Perruquier’) Mr. Rickards of Brydges Street Covent Garden, the ‘novel gas arrangements’ by Mr. Palmer and assistants.

Mr. John Neville played the Gnome Britannicus, the devilish dance (‘Ballabile des Diablotines’) was by Misses Johnson, E. Honey, Hicks, Arlington, Cleveland, Granville, Losh, Brown, Page, Gregory, Rose, Kendall, Martinez, Gosselin, Turtle, Ford, Stewart, Ranoé and Clare. Good Humour was played by Miss Harriet Gordon, Henry VIII by Mr. Harry Pearson, Pretty Poppet by Master Sloman, the Queen of England by Mr. Jones, the Maids of the Bed Chamber were credited as: Mlles. ‘Rosy, Pinky, Daisy, Pansy & Lily’, Cardinal Wolsey was played by Mr. P.Q. Villiers, Sir Jasper Spiritsail by Mr. D. Stewart, Francis I by Mr. W. Shalders, Le Sire de Framboisy by Mr. A. Carles, the Queen of France by Mr. Gough, the Maids of the Bed Chamber were credited as: ‘Mlles Drapblanc, Contrepoint, Rideaufin, Oreillerine’, Blondette, later Columbine, by Miss Emma Horne who danced the Pas de Rosière’, Coquelicot by Mr. Brown, later Harlequin, the Fairy Queen was Miss E. Thorne, Pantaloon by Mr. W.A. Barnes ‘the Transatlantic Pantomimist’, and Richard Flexmore, billed as ‘the Great Flexmore’ as Clown.

The scenes of the pantomime included The Caverns of the Gnome Britannicus; Land's End Cornwall; the Deck of The Great Harry; the interior of the chateau of King Francis I; the Field of the Cloth of Gold; the Abode of the Fairy Queen in the Golden Groves of Good Humour; Adulteration Buildings, Turmeric Row, Red Lead Row; the Wizard's Laboratory in the Chateau de Mephistophiles, Heligoland; the New Castle of Bamoral, and Rap Street, Spirit Square. The Apotheosis of Ye Belle Alliance was by Mr. Guerin.

The three Dioramas were The Emperor Napoleon's Arrival in London & his Enthusiastic Reception; Queen Victoria's Visit to Napoleon's Tomb at the Hotel des Invalides, and The Voyage from England to France with a Storm at Sea.

The playbill notes that 'the Grand Operatic Drama' Rob Roy,as performed at the Theatres Royal in Edinburgh and Glasgow, was in rehearsal; gives the prices of the seats and notes that the Treasurer of the theatre was Mr. Hingston, and Mr. O'Reilly was in charge of the Box Office.

This playbill advertises the programme at London’s Covent Garden Theatre on 7 January 1856, when the theatre’s lessee was the Scottish magician and consummate showman John Henry Anderson (1814-1874), known as 'The Wizard of the North'. Anderson intended to retire in 1854 but the success of his show in Aberdeen that year, exposing the tricks of mediums and spiritualists as frauds, persuaded him to take the show to the Lyceum and Covent Garden in 1855 and 1865.

This evening’s performance was a curtain-raiser of Anderson’s magic followed by the grand Christmas pantomime brimming with the gorgeous effects and spectacular scenery that are detailed exhaustively on the playbill. Its theme, The Cloth of Gold - the name given to summit in 1520 between King Henry Vlll of England and King Francis l of France because of the tents and outfits of its participants adorned with vast quantities of gold fabric – would have given the designers and scene painters a lot of inspiration and would certainly have been expensive. Only two months after this evening’s performance, the theatre and all its contents were destroyed by a dreadful fire on Wednesday, 5 March, that took all Anderson’s properties and bankrupted him for the second time in his career.

S.187-2020