Short Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
COLLECTION FINDING AID Australian performers in UK pantomime 1981-2011 Performing Arts Programs and Ephemera (PROMPT) Australian Collection Development The traditional British pantomime season during Christmas and New Year includes performances by Australian actors, actresses, and dancers, and the work of Australian production staff. Since the beginning of the 1990s the Library has collected a sample of the vividly colourful programs and printed ephemera produced by pantomime management, many of which feature popular Australian celebrities, including actors appearing in television series such as: • Neighbours — e.g. Melissa Bell, Andrew Bibby, Natalie Blair, Chelsea Blake, Gayle and Gillian Blakeney, Carla Bonner, Anne Charleston, Shane Connor, Lucinda Cowden, Bernard Curry, Jonathan Dutton, Maggie Dence, Stefan Dennis, Terence Donovan, Anthony Engelman, Alan Fletcher, Richard Grieve, Linda Hartley, Patrick Harvey, Stephen Hunt, Scott Jones, Mark Little, Daniel MacPherson, Blair McDonough, Craig McLachlan, Benjie McNair, Maggie Millar, Ryan Moloney, Jessica Muschamp, Ben Nicholas, Richard Norton, Tom Oliver, Dan Paris, Guy Pearce, Mark Raffety, Jaime Robbie Reyne, Lara Sacher, Bruce Samazan, Kristian Schmid, Ian Smith, Jansen Spencer, Jesse Spencer, Caitlin Stasey, Mat Stevenson, Alana Truman, Kym Valentine, Sarah Vandenbergh, Ian Williams • Home and Away — e.g. John Adam, Greg Benson, Daniel Collopy, Nicolle Dickson, Isla Fisher, Cornelia Francis, Richard Grieve, Les Hill, Stephen James King, Debra Lawrance, Lynne McGranger, Brendan McKensey, Spencer McLaren, Benjie McNair, Ray Meagher, Richard Norton, Paul O’Brien, Alex Papps, Michael Piccirilli, Kate Ritchie, Bruce Roberts, Fiona Spence, Ben Steele, Emily Symons, Kylie Watson, Aleetza Wood Access The Australian performers in UK pantomimes PROMPT files may requested by eCall-slip and used through the Library’s Petherick Reading Room. Posters are available through the Pictures Reading Room. www.nla.gov.au Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.1 Australia August 2011 PROMPT COLLECTION FINDING AID Australian performers in UK pantomime 1981-2011 Arrangement Pantomime material is arranged in the Library’s PROMPT collection alphabetically by title. Each sequence is then chronological by year and then by month, week or day with all dates based on evidence in the programs, posters or other related ephemera. An index to performers and performances is provided at the end of this document. Entries in this finding aid are listed chronologically by performance date and with national flags indicating country of performance, then sorted alphabetically by title of production and then place of performance. Holdings are then detailed as follows: Year Date; Venue/Theatre (Place, Country) Pantomime [featured Australian performer/s] in ‘[roles]’ [Related material held] A folder of collective biographies at the end of the sequence includes related articles of interest: • ‘Australian soap actors clean up the best roles in the great British panto’ in [Unidentified, 2000]: p. 100-103 • ‘Aussie soap star pantos’ in Local trader [Devon], no.9 [2000?] : p. 13-15 • ‘What a lot of buttons : Aussie soap star picks up £24,000 a week playing panto’ in Sunday mirror (London?), Nov. 12, 2000 : p. 35 • ‘Aussie invasion continues’ in Encore (London?), Feb. 2001 : p. 20 Other resources For other pantomime performers (eg pantomimes staged and played in Australia), we recommend readers request material from the PROMPT collection filed under the name of the pantomime, for example: Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Clown Who Lost His Circus, Dick Whittington and his cat, Hey hey it's Cinderella, Mother Goose, Mother Goose and the Stooges and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. See also programs in the pantomime sequence of the J.C. Williamson collection of theatre programs (1873-1965), from the George Musgrove pantomime season (1891-1892) and Benjamin Fuller's Fairy and Big Fairy Pantomimes (1912-1940). 2│35 www.nla.gov.au August 2011 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.1 Australia PROMPT COLLECTION FINDING AID Australian performers in UK pantomime 1981-2011 It is also recommended that readers interested in the wider stage careers of individual performers also look through their personal files within the PROMPT sequence, for example: • Felice Arena • Jonathon Dutton • Tony Monopoly • Gayle & Gillian • Cornelia Francis • Jessica Muschamp Blakeney • Richard Grieve • Ben Nicholas • Melissa Bell • Rolf Harris • Judy Nunn • Marcel Bracks • Craig Revel Horwood • Michael Piccirilli • Anne Charleston • Darlene Johnson • Stan Pretty • Karen Chatwin • Roger Leach • Rebecca Ritters • Allen Christie • Mark Little • Bruce Roberts • Shane Connor • Daniel MacPherson • Fiona Spence • Lucinda Cowden • Blair McDonough • Emily Symons • Stefan Dennis • Craig McLachlan • Ian Williams • Terence Donovan • Spike Milligan Another great web resource for current UK pantomime is www.bigpantoguide.co.uk and there is also a useful summary with short biographies in ‘The Aussie invasion! Big Down Under! The advent of the Australian star pantomimes 1988 today’at www.its-behind- you.com/aussieinvasion.html. www.nla.gov.au 3│35 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.1 Australia August 2011 PROMPT COLLECTION FINDING AID Australian performers in UK pantomime 1981-2011 1981 - 1982 Season commencing 26 December 1981; New Palace Theatre (Plymouth, Devon England) Jack and the beanstalk featuring Allen Christie as ‘The Court Chamberlain’ Program 1988 - 1989 15 December 1988 – 28 January 1989; Hull New Theatre (Hull, England) Mother Goose featuring Rolf Harris as ‘Rough Rolf’ Program 1989 Season commencing December 1989; Charter Theatre (Preston, Lancashire England) Cinderella featuring Guy Pearce as ‘Dandini’ and Tony Monopoly as ‘Prince Charming’ Program 1990-1991 20 December 1990 — 19 January 1991; Theatre Royal (Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England) Snow White and the seven dwarfs featuring Jessica Muschamp as ‘Snow White’ and Fiona Spence as ‘The Wicked Queen’ Program and flyer 22 December 1990 — 12 January 1991; De Montfort Hall (Leicester, Leicestershire England) Cinderella featuring Nicolle Dickson as ‘Cinderella’ and Alex Papps as ‘Buttons’ Program and flyer 1991-1992 December 1991 – January 1992; De Montford Hall Theatre (Leicester, Leicestershire England) Snow White and the seven dwarfs featuring Linda Hartley as ‘Snow White’, Mat Stevenson as ‘Prince Danilo’ and Kristian Schmid as ‘Muddles’ Program 13 December 1991 — 5 January 1992; Empire Theatre (Sunderland, Northumberland England) Snow White and the seven dwarfs featuring Alex Papps as ‘Muddles’, Nicolle Dickson as ‘Snow White’ and Mark Little as ‘Scuddles’ Program and flyer 4│35 www.nla.gov.au August 2011 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.1 Australia PROMPT COLLECTION FINDING AID Australian performers in UK pantomime 1981-2011 5 December 1991 — 4 January 1992; Towngate Theatre (Basildon, England) Cinderella featuring Vanessa Downing as ‘Fairy Godmother’ Program and flyer 7 December 1991 — 18 January 1992; The Beck Theatre (Hayes, Middlesex England) Dick Whittington and his cat featuring Lucinda Cowden as ‘Dick Whittington’ Program and flyer 19 December 1991 — 18 January 1992; City Varieties Music Hall (Leeds, West Yorkshire England) Pinocchio featuring Debra Lawrance Program and flyer 19-30 December 1991; 1-17 January 1992; Theatre Royal Hanley (Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire England) Aladdin featuring Greg Benson as ‘Aladdin’ and Fiona Spence as ‘The Empress’ Program, flyer and puzzle sheet 20 December 1991 — 26 January 1992; Apollo Theatre (Oxford, Oxfordshire England) Cinderella featuring Emily Symons as ‘Cinderella’ and Guy Pearce as ‘Buttons’ Program 21 December 1991 — 11 January 1992; Pavilion Theatre (Weymouth, Dorset England) Babes in the wood featuring Peter Vroom as ‘Eddie, the Good Robber’ Program and flyer 21 December 1991 — 8 February 1992; Theatre Royal (Nottingham, Nottinghamshire England) Cinderella featuring Anne Charleston as ‘Fairy Godmother’ Program and flyer 24 December 1991 — 29 February 1992; Hippodrome (Birmingham, England) Cinderella featuring Ian Smith as ‘Baron Hardup’ Program and flyer 1992-1993 December 1992; Theatre Royal, Hanley (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire England) Dick Whittington featuring Anne Charleston as ‘Fairy Bow Bells’ and Ian Smith as ‘King Rat’ Program December 1992; De Montfort Hall (Leicester, Leicestershire England) Peter Pan featuring Kristian Schmid as ‘Peter Pan’ Signed program www.nla.gov.au 5│35 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.1 Australia August 2011 PROMPT COLLECTION FINDING AID Australian performers in UK pantomime 1981-2011 12 December 1992 - ?; Marlowe Theatre (Canterbury, Kent England) Aladdin featuring Lucinda Cowden as ‘Aladdin’ Program 17 December 1992 — 31 January 1993; Theatre Royal (Bath, Somerset England) Cinderella featuring Rolf Harris as ‘Buttons’ Program 18 December 1992 — 16 January 1993; Princess Theatre (Torquay, Devon England) Cinderella featuring Melissa Bell as ‘Cinderella’ and Maggie Dence as ‘Fairy Godmother’ Program and flyer 18 December 1992 – 31 January 1993; Wimbledon Theatre (Wimbledon, England) Goldilocks and the Three Bears featuring Ray Meagher as ‘The Ringmaster’ Program 18 December 1992 - 31 January 1993; Empire Theatre (Liverpool, Lancashire England) Dick Whittington featuring Gayle and Gillian Blakeney as ‘Alice Fitzwarren and her Magical Fairy Protector’ Program 22 December 1992 — 15 January 1993;