The House That Jack Built, performed at Nottingham Theatre Royal in 1865 to be staged again at the venue
A special performance will bring new life to Nottingham Theatre Royal’s first-ever pantomime
The House That Jack Built, first performed at the newly-opened Theatre Royal, Nottingham, on Boxing Day 1865, will be performed once more at the historic city venue
The performance takes place in the Theatre Royal dress circle foyer on Monday, December 11, at 7.30pm.
It will be brought to life with a script-in-hand performance by The Nottingham Rebels Community Theatre Group, directed by Rebecca Morris.
David Longford, who adapted the original script, will give a short talk before the performance, exploring the fascinating context of this Victorian treasure, and explaining how he went about adapting the 158-year-old text.
He will explore the production’s history and local connections, the clever wordplay, its extraordinary characters, from Squire Boobyhatch to the Queen of the Amazons, and lost Panto traditions.
There will also be a chance to explore an exhibition of pantomime memorabilia from the Theatre Royal’s extensive archive, curated by the venue’s Heritage Archive Volunteers.
Rebecca Morris, the venue’s Heritage and Learning Partnerships Manager, said: “It’s a real pleasure for us to be hosting this unique event, which combines so many aspects of the heritage and community work that we do.
“The performance itself is presented by a group of amateur citizen theatre makers, who all access our community theatre programme. They have been working hard to bring it to life, and to ensure that the script, which has been carefully curated by David Longford, takes centre stage.
“Enabling this is also an exhibition, presented by some of our heritage volunteers who have kindly given up their time to research and showcase the historical context. It’s such a great example of the work we do in our creative learning programme, and it’s even more fun because it’s so festive!”