Toy theatre

A paper toy theatre mounted on a wooden frame with trapdoor, with 4 candles for footlights, and 2 drops of red velvet curtain; there is a backdrop and side wings and 4 wire rods for manipulating the characters. Characters and scenes are held for Maid and the Magpie, Oliver Twist, The Miller and his men, Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty. There is a set of general scenes to suit any play.

With this toy theatre children could act out a drama or pantomime, perhaps one they had seen on stage with their parents, or perhaps just because they liked to act out stories. Playing with toy theatres was an acceptable part in a child's education as it helped train them in speech, public presentation and in role management.

The plays were purchased as sheets or in booklet form, a penny plain or twopence coloured. If purchased plain, the children had first to colour-in the characters and scenes, then carefully paste onto card and cut them out. If purchased 'coloured' then that first task was already done. Of course the players needed a stage on which to perform, and mostly these were made by the young boys in the family: a wooden floor, usually with some style of trapdoor, and four wooden uprights. These support the thin rails arranged in pairs through which scenes and wings can be inserted. The addition of a curtain, and a proscenium (decorative arch) across the front of the stage completed the stage set-up. A 'skeleton' stage could be purchased ready-made.

Once these tasks were done, the children could act out the play with the characters and using the script in the book. The Miller and his men, a story of a gang of robbers, was one of the most popular of the plays.