Edward Litt Leman Blanchard (International) assertion Edward Litt Leman Blanchard i(A59391 works by) (birth name: Edward L. Blanchard) (a.k.a. E. L. Blanchard)
This international person is included in AustLit to identify a relationship with Australian literature.
Born: Established: 11 Dec 1820 London,
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England,
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
; Died: Ceased: 4 Sep 1889 Westminster, London,
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England,
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,

Gender: Male
Heritage: English
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BiographyHistory

Edward Litt Leman was an English writer and director best known for the pantomimes he produced at London's Drury Lane Theatre between 1852 and 1888. Blanchard is regarded as one of the major figures in developing the fairy-story element in pantomime. Through his works, the emphasis on the harlequinade also lessened, as dialogue (especially in the style of rhyming couplets) became more important. By the 1860s, the principal boy (a woman playing the young hero) and dame (a male comic playing the mother-type role) had also begun to emerge as the new pantomime tradition.

Blanchard's first pantomime libretto, Jack and the Beanstalk, was staged in London in 1844. A number of his works became popular in Australia during the nineteenth century, albeit with some changes to scenes, settings, and characters and the insertion of local hits and topicalities. Some of his pantomimes and burlesques were adapted by Australian authors; these include Harlequin and the House that Jack Built (1865) and Riquet with a Tuft (1872).

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • For further details see Jane W. Stedman, Edward Litt Leman Blanchard in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

  • Works by Blanchard which may have been adapted and localised for Australian audiences, but which have not yet been confirmed, include:

Last amended 28 Mar 2014 12:19:28
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