In December’s festive spirit, Archivist Sabrina Offord explores the magic of Christmas theatre and Pantomime through the V&A Theatre and Performance Archives’ rich collection of performances. There may even be some ghostly tales…

For many a trip to the theatre is a festive treat with a Christmas Pantomime a staple of programming in theatres up and down the country. Pantos and other Christmas shows are well represented within the V&A Theatre and Performance Archives. Items range from programmes and posters to scripts and costume designs. In addition to these items left behind, Christmas performances are captured within the V&A’s National Video Archive of Performance.

The National Video Archive of Performance

The National Video Archive of Performance, or NVAP, is an archive of over 400 high-quality live performance recordings made since 1992. This ever-expanding archive has been made possible due to a unique agreement between the Federation of Entertainment Unions and the V&A Theatre and Performance collections. This has enabled the NVAP to make these recordings without payment of artists’ fees, for research purposes. Over the last 32 years, the V&A has been able to record a number of Christmas themed live performances, including 9 pantomimes!

Dick Whittington

Pantomime has become a very British tradition, which for many is their first introduction to the wonder of theatre. Panto blends familiar fairy tale stories with humour, spectacle and music to create a popular form of family entertainment. The first pantomime recorded for the NVAP collection was the 1993/1994 production of Dick Whittington (NVAP/94/04) at Birmingham Hippodrome directed by Carole Todd and designed by Hugh Durrant. Celebrity casting has become a popular component of modern pantos. The cast for Dick Whittington includes figures familiar from early 1990s television with Rosemarie Ford as the title character, Lesley Joseph as Fairy Bow Bells, John Nettles as King Rat and Wolf from the original ITV programme Gladiators playing, well, Wolf. playing, well, Wolf. The V&A design collections also include some of the costume and set designs by Durrant helping to capture the creative process from page to stage.

The Box of Delights

John Masefield’s fantasy novel The Box of Delights and the 1984 BBC television series have become enduring Christmas classics inspiring a stage adaptation by Piers Torday. The production premiered at Wilton’s Music Hall, London in 2017 and was recorded for NVAP that December (NVAP/17/20). The story revolves around the eponymous box which allows the owner to shrink in size, to fly and travel in time swiftly. The box has been entrusted to the young boy Kay Harker who battles to protect the box from thieves and evil magicians. If he fails it could lead to the cancellation of Christmas! The production featured dramatic stage designs by Tom Piper and inventive staging. This allowed performers to play both the good and villainous characters encountered by the hero on his journey.

A Christmas Carol

Watching a version of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol is an essential part of Christmas for many. There have been countless adaptations over the years for both stage and screen and the NVAP collection includes two versions. A Christmas Carol (NVAP/12/19) was adapted and performed as a one-man show by Dominic Gerrard and the performance captured for the collection was performed in the V&A galleries in 2012. Solo performer versions of A Christmas Carol follow in the footsteps of Dicken’s himself who performed readings of the tale over 100 times, right up until the year of his death, 1870. Another version in the collection is A Christmas Carol (Ikrismas Kherol) (NVAP/08/02) adapted and directed by Mark Dornford-May and performed at the Young Vic in 2007-2008. This English/Xhosa production moves the setting from London to South Africa and follows a female Scrooge figure as she is visited by three ghosts who persuade her of the errors of her ways. Although very different adaptions, Dicken’s message of compassion and kindness remains a central theme.

The Woman in Black

The telling of chilling ghost stories is a long-established Christmas tradition. The telling of ghost stories during winter and stories of the wild hunt riding across the winter skies may originate from Pagan times. The Victorians popularised and customised the modern tradition of Christmas ghost stories. If all the jollity of the pantos is not your thing, then maybe you would prefer to watch one of the spooky plays in the National Video Archive of Performance instead. Although not a Christmas tale, The Woman in Black (NVAP/10/10) is perhaps one of the scariest in the collection. The story follows Arthur Kipp as he uncovers the past of the ghostly Woman in Black who is haunting him and the residents of a small village. The play ran for 13,232 performances in London’s West End, making it the second longest-running show after The Mousetrap.

Whether you are looking for festive cheer, a chilling tale or something else entirely, the National Video Archive of Performance has something for everyone. The recordings are available to view by appointment in the National Art Library in V&A South Kensington. They will also be available in V&A East Storehouse, opening 31 May 2025. For more information, please visit the V&A website: Theatre & Performance Archives · V&A

By Sabrina Offord, Archivist, Theatre & Performance Archives

All images copyright © Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum/Federation of Entertainment Unions.