Jeffrey Richards's previous volumes on the theater, such as Sir Henry Irving: A Victorian Actor and His World (2005) and The Ancient World on the Victorian and Edwardian Stage (2009), are mainly concerned with highbrow elements of Victorian theatricality. In his latest book he focuses on a dramatic form that is often classified at the other end of the cultural spectrum. The Golden Age of Victorian Pantomime provides a detailed history of the popular genre from the 1830s until the end of the nineteenth century.

Richards argues pantomime was a constantly evolving form that developed through a series of transformations, and he identifies the key figures in this process as the writers James Robinson Planché and Edward Leman Blanchard, the scenic artist William Roxby Beverley, and the lessee and director of Drury Lane, Sir Augustus Harris. The contribution of each of these figures is discussed in detail following short, contextual chapters entitled “Transformations,” “Harlequinade,” and “Fairyland.” Richards briefly traces the origins of the harlequinade from the commedia dell'arte and its British heyday at the time of the famous clown Joe Grimaldi. He highlights general trends in pantomime, such as the increasing emphasis on spectacle. Of particular importance was the gradual diminishing of the harlequinade to accommodate the expansion of the narrative scenes leading up to it, known as the “pantomime opening.” The transformation scene, in which the pantomime characters were changed into harlequinade figures, linked the two parts. As one would expect of a cultural historian, Richards excels in exploring how these shifts reflect wider changes in society as it moved from the excesses of the Regency period to the mid-Victorian era characterized by bourgeois respectability and finally to the imperialist sentiment of the later decades.

Planché is an important figure in nineteenth-century stage history. He initiated the vogue for historical realism in costume and design and introduced extravaganza, based on a French form, to the Olympic and Lyceum theaters under the management of Madame Vestris. Through discussion of Planché's classical and fairy extravaganzas, Richards outlines how extravaganza was distinct from pantomime but argues it had a crucial influence on the development of the pantomime opening.

Audiences and critics were amused by the witty writing in Planché's extravaganzas and equally enchanted by the imaginative skill of the scene-painter who realized his settings on stage. As a reviewer for the Era claimed, Beverley “is above all an artist, and, in his conception, a poet” (150). In the Christmas pantomimes at Drury Lane, his stunning backdrops combined with sympathetic lighting and imaginatively costumed and choreographed coryphées to produce scenes of dazzling visual opulence. Such tableaux gradually developed on stage to form one of the highlights of the performance, the transformation scene.

Beverley was one of the many people responsible for the preeminence of the Drury Lane pantomime. Richards justifies his focus on this particular venue by arguing that it is representative of general trends in pantomime, was for many years the sole West End producer of the form, and was regarded as a national institution. He outlines the careers of successive managers (E. T. Smith, F. B. Chatterton, Augustus Harris, and Arthur Collins) as well as the work of other lesser-known craftsmen, such as scenic designer Richard Wynn Keene, known as Dykwynkyn, who created the “big heads” used in the pantomime openings. The personal history of writer Edward Leman Blanchard is particularly interesting. Blanchard, described as “the acknowledged master of the pantomime genre from the 1850s to the 1880s” (172), balanced didacticism with entertainment and topical satire in his scripts. Drawing on Blanchard's diaries, Richards proves that some pantomimes previously attributed to others (particularly Thomas Greenwood, co-lessee of Sadler's Wells) were, in fact, Blanchard's work. Discussion of Blanchard's finances is equally enlightening, showing the precarious situation of the writer (particularly following the abrupt ending of Chatterton's management in February 1879) and changes in remuneration arrangements from the payment of a set fee to royalties.

The chapter devoted to Harris, who directed Drury Lane from 1879 until 1896, reveals how pantomime evolved into the form recognizable to today's audience. As Richards puts it, “Slapstick and spectacle was his [Harris's] recipe for success” (335). In place of the comic tricks of the harlequinade, audiences were treated to gargantuan processions and spectacular routines. Words, music, and action were also affected as the speciality turns, gags, and style of variety performers were incorporated into the shows. Richards records critical responses to these developments and charts the rival, more traditional pantomimes of Oscar Barrett at the Crystal Palace and in the West End, which eschewed the vulgarity supposedly associated with the music hall.

The strength of this book is the richness of the detailed coverage of such a large number of pantomimes. It provides a fascinating flavor of the entertainments, showcasing the astonishing inventiveness of the creative and technical teams that produced them, and indicating why they were so popular. The extensive coverage of newspaper reviews not only reveals critical opinion of individual shows but also illustrates how debate about pantomime reflects contemporary cultural anxieties, such as the suitability of the entertainment for children. Richards proves a knowledgeable guide to the minutiae of the topical allusion, providing background information to a plethora of international and domestic current events, noting the significance of references to everything from “The Great Stink” of 1858 to the 1882 revolt in Egypt, changes in alcohol licensing laws, the introduction of the telegraph, and the emergence of the “New Woman.”

The division of chapters is at times unhelpful as the material inevitably overlaps. A quotation from Beverley is even repeated in different chapters. A more serious criticism concerns the paucity of the illustrative material given that pantomime is so reliant on spectacle. The review illustrations and posters are not systematically analyzed, and the reproduction of the scene-painting and set-building illustration (104) is so small as to be virtually pointless. This is a missed opportunity to examine the visual evidence that has survived. Nevertheless, this book is a valuable contribution to the growing scholarship on Victorian pantomime.