Nottingham Rebels’ final production of the year was the resurrection of a traditional Victorian pantomime – the very first pantomime to be performed at the newly opened Nottingham Theatre Royal in 1865. The panto in question is “The House That Jack Built”, the title taken from the popular nursery rhyme, which tells the story of Jack (played by Anne) and his beloved Kitty (Kenny).
The pantomime has some moments that are very odd when compared to the pantomimes we see today. I played Time, a personification of the concept of time, who decides to wage war against Jack (although it isn’t clear why!). Opposing Time was fairy Queen Titania Dewdrop (Penny), whose name, and many of her lines, were clearly influenced by Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. In fact, there were lots of Shakespearean influences throughout the show, with each scene interspersed with Shakespearean quotes, delivered by the narrators (Neil, Gavin and Chloé).
There was also plenty of standard pantomime tropes. Jack’s wedding plans are almost thwarted by villain Squire Boobyhatch (Pete), and comic relief is provided by Dame Durden (Jules) and the fools Dorothy Draggletail (Yasmin) and Humphrey (John). Towards the end of the pantomime, Dorothy performs a traditional Victorian ditty (with some completely absurd but hilarious lyrics), with music provided by the Rebels’ very own minstrel Dave.
The script had been found and adapted by David Longford, who had made some cuts (the original performance would have been about three hours long) and added some narration to help explain aspects of the original 1865 production. David gave a very interesting talk to open the evening’s events, and there was also an exhibition put together by members of the Theatre Archives. The pantomime was directed by Rebecca Morris, who made the decision that the play would be performed script-in-hand. I was originally unsure about this decision, but after being involved in the 37 Plays events, I understood that this would help us to celebrate the text and take pressure off the actors. I’m now very much a champion of script-in-hand performances!
The Theatre Royal was built in 1865 by John “Jack” Lambert, so the “house” that Jack built is actually the theatre itself, and the pantomime celebrates this by recreating the front of the theatre. In the original production, this rose up from under the stage, accompanied by 150 school children who acted as the builders. For our (much smaller-scale) production, Penny created a DIY theatre from old cardboard boxes, which the cast assembled around Jack.
The entire evening was lots of fun and a great way to celebrate the Theatre Royal and the panto season. The opportunity for us all to get dressed up and have a laugh, free from the stress of learning lines, meant that this was a very enjoyable process from start to finish. I’d love to do more things like this in future.
Tom Morley, January 2024
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