Planché, James Robinson (1796–1880), English dramatist and translator of French fairy tales. Planché was a highly productive and popular dramatist of the London stage who created nearly 180 productions from 1818 to 1856, and is best known for his theatrical extravaganzas which were frequently based on French fairy tales. Planché acknowledged his sources for the extravaganzas as the folie féerie (fairy comedy) which he borrowed from the Paris stage, English pantomime, and burlesque. Planché suggested the essential elements of a successful fairy extravaganza were: ‘A plot, the interest of which is sustained to the last moment, and is not in the least complicated, a series of startling and exciting events, the action which required no verbal explanation, and numerous opportunities for scenic display and sumptuous decoration—What more could be desired?’ Planché produced his first extravaganza in 1825 using mythological subjects, but turned to French fairy tales for his plots beginning with Riquet with the Tuft (1836). Other fairy extravaganzas quickly followed including comic adaptations of Puss in Boots (1837), Bluebeard (1839), Sleeping Beauty in the Wood (1840), Beauty and the Beast (1841), and The White Cat (1842). Planché eventually wrote 44 extravaganzas that combined song, dance, spectacle, and topical allusions.
While pantomime was considered a working‐class genre, the extravaganza was thought to be middle‐class in its appeal, despite the fact that both forms of entertainment relied on transformation scenes, fantastic plots and lavish custumes, and numerous changes of scenery. Both became British theatrical institutions during the Christmas and Easter seasons, and Planché's extravaganzas in particular were influential in the creation of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operettas. The fairy extravaganza is a pantomime with the harlequinade removed, new lyrics written for popular songs, extensive use of puns, and an elaborate concluding transformation scene involving spectacular changes in scenery and costumes. While the extravaganza was considered respectable family entertainment, some of the adult appeal was due to the sometimes revealing costumes of the actresses. Planché took care to produce historically accurate costumes and eventually published History of British Costumes (1834) and An Encyclopaedia of Costume or Dictionary of Dress (1876–9).
Planché's theatrical adaptations of fairy tales were published shortly before his death in the five‐volume The Extravaganza of J. R. Planché, Esq. (1879). In addition to his extravaganzas, Planché translated two collections of French fairy tales, The Fairy Tales of the Countess D'Aulnoy (1855) and the companion volume Four and Twenty Fairy Tales (1858), which was reprinted as Fairy Tales by Perrault, De Villeneuve, De Caylus, De Lubert, De Beaumont [Le Prince de Beaumont], and Others. He also wrote a version of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in verse which accompanied Richard Doyle's illustrations in An Old Fairy Tale Told Anew (1865).
Bibliography
- Booth, R. Michael, Prefaces to English Nineteenth‐Century Theatre (1980).
- Planché, James Robinson, The Recollections and Reflections of J. R. Planché (1872).
- Roy, Donald (ed.), Plays by James Robinson Planché (1986).
— Jan Susina
