Shadow Pantomime

The Shadow Pantomime (or at times referred to as the Great Comic Shadow Pantomime) is the name of a theatre performance known in South Africa through presentations by the Le Roy and Duret Company in their 1866 and 1867 seasons.

The original text

According to Groom (1928) and Bosman (1980), the Le Roy and Duret Company did the first performance in Cape Town of what they billed as a "Great Comic Shadow Pantomime, sensation from the Crystal Palace".

The latter statement may be a reference to something like the 1861 shadow pantomime put on by Nelson Lee in the Crystal Palace, London and reported on in the Evening Star and Dial of January 15, 1861[1]). What was seen in Cape Town was probably a similar piece of shadow theatre, perhaps inspired by or even based on the Crystal Palace presentations, devised and performed by the Le Roy and Duret Company itself for performance on tour in the 1860s.

Performance history in South Africa

1866: Performed by the Le Roy and Duret theatre company in the Theatre Royal in Harrington Street, Cape Town, on 2nd August and billed as a "Great Comic Shadow Pantomime, sensation from the Crystal Palace". Also performed were The Mutiny at the Nore (Jerrold) and On the Sly (Morton).

1866: Performed by the Le Roy and Duret theatre company in the Theatre Royal in Harrington Street, Cape Town, as Shadow Pantomime on the 25th of August. This was part of a children's matinee, which also included On the Sly, The Nervous Cures (Brown and Norton) and The Dancing Scotchman (Flexmore and Auriol?).

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.

William Groom. 1899-1900. Drama in Cape Town. Cape Illustrated Magazine, 10(4): 478-481, 517-520, 547-552, 580-584, 640-643, 670-672, 706-708.

Evening Star And Dial, Tuesday, January 15, 1861[2]