The Victorian Marionette Theatre (review)

Reviewed by: The Victorian Marionette Theatre Victor Emeljanow John Mccormick, in collaboration with Clodagh Mccormick and John phillips. The Victorian Marionette Theatre. Studies in Theatre History and Culture. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2004. Pp. xv + 272, illustrated. $49.95 (Hb); $24.95 (Pb). If theatre historians think of marionettes, they probably refer to Gordon Craig's contentious proposition about actors and their transformation into über-marionette. If disinterested readers have any point of reference, it may refer to their childhood memories of Punch and Judy, although the transformation of inanimate figures into living creatures might also remind them that this forms the basis of Walt Disney's output, from Pinocchio to The Lion King, let alone the enduring cartoon characters of Looney Tunes and those presented in daytime children's television shows like Sesame Street. This book is a companion piece to the author's Popular Puppet Theatre in Europe 1800–1914 (1998) and builds upon George Speaight's seminal work History of the English Puppet Theatre (1955; updated 1990). Predominantly a history of the marionette tradition in England – its companies, its performance venues, and its repertoire in the period – the book also analyses the Victorian marionettes themselves. Thus, there are chapters devoted to the materials and carving of the figures and to the intricate workings of the fantoccini and of the variety or trick figures that sang, danced, juggled, and contorted themselves. Clodagh McCormick's naïve diagrams of the construction and stringing of the figures capture both the childlike appeal of the marionettes and give a glimpse of the skills required of their manipulators. The book is an enthusiast's labour of love, informed by McCormick's own skills as a practitioner and his grasp of the intertwined histories of marionette theatre companies and the show people who travelled the world. It constitutes a scholarly account of the family dynasties that dominated the Victorian period – Clowes and Tiller, Holden, D'Arc, Clunn Lewis, Middleton – the energetic transnational movements of their companies throughout Australasia, Africa, the Far East, and the Americas, and their relationship to other popular theatre forms, like variety, waxwork exhibitions, and perhaps above all, pantomime. Although McCormick has had the benefit of the research done by scholars like Speaight and John Phillips, he candidly admits the frustration [End Page 850] that all popular theatre scholars share with the sheer ephemerality of the evidence: in this case, the disappearance of all but a few of the figures themselves, the paucity of scripts that might afford a glimpse of how plays were constructed or adapted for the marionette stage, and the fact that showmen didn't have the time or the inclination to document their experiences. That Richard Barnard's account of his life and travels in the nineteenth century as a marionette proprietor exists and has been published is exceptional. From time to time, it is a bewildering book: the information is too crowded with facts and names to allow us to catch our breaths. This is particularly the case with the chapter on proprietors and practitioners. As well, it presupposes a reasonable familiarity with the context of live Victorian popular theatre – the repertoire of plays and their playwrights, of touring conditions and types of venues, and of the British pantomime tradition with its characteristic harlequinade. Indeed, without such prior knowledge, an understanding of the book's scope would be impoverished. Although John McCormick tells the story of the "jointed figure operated from above by rods, wires, or strings" (ix) from a Victorian perspective, the continuities of the marionette tradition demand references back to the seventeenth century and forward to the 1950s. In formal terms, the Victorian marionette theatre saw its apogee as a vibrant form of popular theatre during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Indeed, its appeal was felt at the time equally by adolescent provincial audiences and by Henry Irving, who requested a special performance of the Clowes' Marionettes for his and Ellen Terry's edification. Obviously, the appeal transcended all cultural barriers and the form spoke a universal language. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the fascinating aspects of the book lie in the account of the richness and diversity...

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