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| Peasant Boys Costume Design Atillio Comelli, 1907 The Victoria & Albert Museum |
Under the direction of Arthur Collins, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane produced a variety of extravagant shows based on fairytale themes and English lore. Here, we see a costume design by Atillio Comelli (1858-1925) for “Babes in the Wood,” a 1907 pantomime staged at the theatre. The above drawing is labeled by Comelli, “’Peasant Boys' for Babes in the Wood, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 1907.”
The show was inspired by an old English ballad from 1595, called “The Children in the Wood” or “The Norfolk Gentleman's Last Will and Testament.” A version of the story called “The Children in the Wood,” was performed as an opera in 1793 at the Haymarket Theatre. It was revived again in 1827 at Drury Lane Theatre under the title “Harlequin and Cock Robin or The Babes in the Wood,” The 1827 production was noted for its opulence and strangely fascinating staging which, at the finale, included tightrope walking. By 1907, Collins with frequent collaborator J. Hickory Wood, was ready to launch a “modern” version of the beloved story. The plot was revamped and contemporary music by J.M. Glover was added. The titular “babes” were played by Miss Marie George and Mr. Walter Passmore.
Collins invited Comelli to create the costumes for the show. While he was, primarily, the house designer of the Royal Opera House from the late 1880s to the early 1920s, he often worked for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on special commissions. Comelli also famously designed the original costumes for a number of Gilbert & Sullivan productions—costumes which are replicated to this day.
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