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Imps, Dames and Principal Boys: Gender Confusion in the Nineteenth-Century Pantomime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Edwin M. Eigner
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Extract

Two of the most popular forms of culture in the nineteenth century, and perhaps those to which Victorians had access at the earliest stages of their lives, are nursery rhymes and the Christmas pantomimes. The latter were and still remain the most financially successful of English dramatic forms. Indeed, they kept most of the nineteenth-century theatres open, including even the licensed theatres, and nowadays the pantomime accounts for about one-fifth of the live-theatre tickets sold in England every year. The two forms are connected, of course, because so many of the pantomime characters and plots were taken from the nursery tales.

Type
Research Article
Information
Victorian Literature and Culture , Volume 17 , Spring 1989 , pp. 65 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

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