*******PHOTO OPPORTUNITY*******<br><br>What: Private viewing of toy theatre exhibition<br>When: Thursday 27 October at 6-7pm<br>Where: Islington Council Local History Centre, Finsbury Library, 245 St John Street, London EC1V 4NB<br><br>What: performance of ‘Bluebeard’ <br>When: Monday 24 October at 6-7pm<br>Where: Islington Council Local History Centre, Finsbury Library, 245 St John Street, London EC1V 4NB<br><br>You are invited to send a photographer and/or a journalist. <br><br>Before video games, iPods, TV and even radio, there was toy theatre – the home entertainment phenomenon that wowed generations of children including a young Winston Churchill.<br><br>Horatio Blood, toy theatre expert and exhibition curator, in association with Islington’s Local History Centre is recreating the magic of toy theatre with an exhibition and a series of performances in October and November, including a special performance of ‘Guy Fawkes’ to mark the 400th anniversary of the gunpowder plot.<br><br>Invented in the early part of the nineteenth century, toy theatre used brightly coloured prints of characters and scenes that were pasted onto cardboard and was performed in wooden stages by children.<br><br>Highwaymen, smugglers, sailors, soldiers, knights in armour, clowns and fairies all tread the boards in good old-fashioned melodramas and pantomimes in which wicked villains and dashing heroes battle for beautiful heroines. <br><br>In toy theatre’s heyday, there were dozens of competing publishers in what was essentially a London trade. <br><br>W. G. Webb, the subject of the Local History Centre exhibition, was apprenticed to the trade in 1835 and worked out of a warehouse in Old Street, EC1. <br><br>His artistic and technical mastery of all aspects of toy theatre made him one of the most famous and accomplished publishers in the business. <br><br>W. G. Webb drew, engraved, printed and hand-coloured characters for more than 20 plays between 1847 and 1880, including Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Robin Hood and Guy Fawkes. <br><br>Following his death in 1890, his son H. J. Webb continued the business until the 1930s. His customers included a young Winston Churchill.<br><br>This world class exhibition includes prints, printing plates, tinsel pictures, toy theatres and related material lent by private collectors and museums, most of which has never been displayed in public before.<br><br>Performances of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘Guy Fawkes’ – suitably timed for 5 November, 400 years to the day since the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot – are two of the live toy theatre shows that will take place during the exhibition.<br><br>Executive member for communities, Councillor Laura Willoughby, said: “Islington is proud to present this exhibition which includes fine examples of mid-nineteenth century popular art, akin to Staffordshire figures and lithographed music covers of the same period.”<br><br>The exhibition will run at Islington Local History Centre, Finsbury Library, 245 St John Street, London EC1V 4NB, from 24 October to 19 November 2005.<br><br>Editor’s notes:<br><br>Dates and times for performances are:<br><br>Monday 24 October 6-7pm Joe Gladwin, ‘Bluebeard’<br><br>Thursday 27 October 6-7pm Private viewing, by invitation only<br><br>Saturday 29 October 11am-12pm Peter and Sylvia Peasgood, ‘Jack<br> 3-4pm and the Beanstalk’<br><br>Thursday 3 November 6-7pm Barry Clarke, ‘The Miller and His Men’<br><br>Saturday 5 November 11am-12pm Robert Poulter, ‘Guy Fawkes’*<br>3-4pm Barry Clarke, ‘Robin Hood’<br><br>Thursday 10 November 6-7pm Robert Poulter, ‘Guy Fawkes’<br><br>Saturday 12 November 11am-12pm Ted Hawkins, ‘The Forest of <br>Bondy’ (or ‘The Dog of Montargis’)<br> 3-4pm Brian Green, ‘The Maid and the Magpie’<br><br>*This performance of Guy Fawkes will take place on the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November, 1605.<br><br>Ends
Page Last Updated: 17 December 2009