Джеймс Робинсон Планше: драматург, антиквар және тарихи киімдер сарапашысы

English dramatist, antiquary, costume designer and officer of arms

James Robinson Planché (27 February 1796 – 30 May 1880) was a British dramatist, antiquary and officer of arms. Over a period of approximately 60 years he wrote, adapted, or collaborated on 176 plays in a wide range of genres including extravaganza, farce, comedy, burletta, melodrama and opera. Planché was responsible for introducing historically accurate costume into nineteenth century British theatre, and subsequently became an acknowledged expert on historical costume, publishing a number of works on the topic. Planché's interest in historical costume led to other antiquarian research, including heraldry and genealogy. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1829, and was influential in the foundation of the British Archaeological Association in 1843. Appointed Rouge Croix Pursuivant in 1854 and promoted to Somerset Herald in 1866, Planché undertook heraldic and ceremonial duties as a member of the College of Arms. These included proclaiming peace at the end of the Crimean War and investing foreign monarchs with the Order of the Garter.

James Robinson Planché was born in Old Burlington St, Piccadilly, London in 1796 to Jacques Planché and Catherine Emily Planché. His parents were first cousins and descendants of Huguenot refugees who had fled to England in 1685 following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Jacques Planché was a moderately prosperous watchmaker, a trade he had learned in Geneva, and was personally known to King George III. His name was pronounced "plank" or "planky" for the beginning of his life, but he added, or rather re added, the accent to his name, restoring the French pronunciation. However, after doing this, editors would sometimes jab at Planché writing "that a particular work of 'Mr. Plank' was 'wooden. Planché was educated at home until the age of eight by his mother He was then sent to boarding school where, in his words: "I was imperfected, and untaught the French I spoke fluently as a child." In 1808 he was apprenticed to a French landscape painter, Monsieur de Court, where he studied perspective and geometry, which would later help him in his theatre endeavours. However this apprenticeship was curtailed by de Court's death two years later. Planché was then articled as an apprentice to a bookseller, with the hope that this would also give him the opportunity to sell some of his own writings. This is where Planché considered his "theatrical propensities" began to develop. its performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Its favourable reception launched Planché on his theatrical career. The couple had two daughters, Katherine Frances, born in 1823, and Matilda Anne, born in 1825. Matilda achieved success as an author of children's books (using the pen name Susie Sunbeam), beginning in 1849 with A Trap to Catch a Sunbeam, which subsequently went through 42 editions. She married the Rev. Henry Mackarness in 1852, and with him had eleven children, four of whom did not survive infancy. Taking after her father in terms of writing output, Matilda Mackarness produced an average of one book a year until her death, most of them under her married name. Her husband's death in 1868 left her with little means of supporting her family, as the books did not produce much income. She and her children moved in with her father.

Despite his large number of successful plays, Planché was never particularly wealthy, and he felt pressure from needing to support his grandchildren. Circumstances improved when in 1871 he was awarded a civil list pension of £100 per annum 'in recognition of his literary services'. Planché died at his home in Chelsea on 30 May 1880 at the age of 84. His wealth at the time of his death was under £1000. He was a regular attender at conversaziones, breakfasts and soireés where he "met and was introduced to most of the notabilities then living in London". In 1831 he was a founding member of the Garrick Club. Planché's early works were "generally unremarkable", one exception in this period being The Vampire, or, The Bride of the Isles, produced at the Lyceum in August 1820, Kenilworth Castle, or, the Days of Queen Bess, produced 8 February 1821, was also very successful. at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. In 1822 he wrote the libretto (and some of the music) for his first full scale opera, Maid Marian; or, the Huntress of Arlingford.

In August 1823, in an issue of The Album, he published an article saying that more attention should be paid to the time period of Shakespeare's plays, especially when it comes to costumes. In the same year, a casual conversation led to one of Planché's more lasting effects on British theatre. He observed to Charles Kemble, the manager of Covent Garden, that "while a thousand pounds were frequently lavished upon a Christmas pantomime or an Easter spectacle, the plays of Shakespeare were put upon the stage with makeshift scenery, and, at the best, a new dress or two for the principal characters". Kemble "saw the possible advantage of correct appliances catching the taste of the town", and agreed to give Planché control of the costuming for the upcoming production of King John, if he would carry out the research, design the costumes and superintend the production. Planché had little experience in this area and sought the help of antiquaries such as Francis Douce and Sir Samuel Meyrick. The research involved sparked Planché's latent antiquarian interests; these came to occupy an increasing amount of his time later in life. Despite the actors' reservations, King John was a success and led to a number of similarly costumed Shakespeare productions by Kemble and Planché (Henry IV, Part I, As You Like It, Othello, Cymbeline, Julius Caesar). In 1828 Planché left Covent Garden and went to work for Stephen Price at Drury Lane. of £10 for the privilege which Murray said he could not pay, citing the poor financial situation of his theatre. But he acquired a manuscript copy of the play and staged it without permission. This prompted Planché to begin campaigning for copyright to be extended to dramatic works. He gathered a group of dramatists (including John Poole, James Kenney, Joseph Lunn and Richard Brinsley Peak) who prevailed upon writer and MP George Lamb to introduce a bill in Parliament; but the bill did not pass its third reading. In 1832 Edward Bulwer Lytton, a novelist and MP, was successful in getting a select committee set up to consider dramatic copyright, as well as theatrical censorship and the monopoly of the patent theatres on drama. Planché gave evidence before the select committee; the following year the Dramatic Copyright Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 15) was passed. Paintings inspired his work in a number of other plays. For The Golden Branch (1847) and Love and Fortune (1859), he created costumes based on the paintings of Watteau. The latter play, which was subtitled A Dramatic Tableau (in Watteau Colours), also included a tableau from Watteau's Noces de Village.

After a brief period as acting manager of the Adelphi Theatre, Planché moved to the Olympic Theatre when Lucia Vestris took over the management in 1831. He provided the first play which she produced, Olympic Revels, or, Prometheus and Pandora. Planché used costume for comedic effect, not by the costumes being comic, but by the incongruity of realistic historical dress being juxtaposed with the actions of the actors. For example, Olympic Revels opens with the gods of Olympus in classical Greek dress playing whist. By 1836 these classical burlesques had become so popular that other writers were copying them. Feeling the need to do something different, Planché turned to a translation of the féerie folie (French: fairy tale) Riquet à la Houppe, which he had written some years earlier. The play was a success, and became the first of 23 "fairy extravaganzas", most of which were based on the fairy tales of Madame d'Aulnoy. Planché's fascination with her work led the press to refer to him as Madame d'Aulnoy's "preux chevalier" (French: devoted knight) and similar epithets. Planché's coined the term "extravaganza", defining it as "the whimsical treatment of a poetical subject". In 1879 two of his friends published his extravaganzas, together with some of his other works, as a five volume set, entitled The Extravaganzas of J. R. Planché, esq., (Somerset Herald) 1825–1871. Planché's scholarly approach was exhibited in this area as well; he "translated two volumes of fairy tales by Mme D'Aulnoy, Perrault, and others, which were for the first time given in their integrity with biographical and historical notes and dissertations." Borrowing from the French again, Planché introduced the revue to British theatre, as a commentary on recent events, particularly events in the theatre.

Planché semi retired from the theatre in 1852 and went to live in Kent with his younger daughter (although he returned to London two years later on his appointment as Rouge Croix Pursuivant). He continued to write occasionally for the theatre, and "I am quite certain that such masters of lyrical writing as W. S. Gilbert would confirm me in my opinion that the songs and lyrics in the extravaganzas of Planché were as faultless in tone, tact and taste as they were rhythmically perfect". (The converse was also true; Planché approved of, and strongly influenced Gilbert's works) Planché's dramatic reputation was already fading before his death, and continued to do so in the twentieth century. He is still remembered for his influence on and contributions to British theatre over a long career. Prior to this Planché had published his costume designs for King John and the other Shakespeare plays, with "biographical, critical and explanatory notices". Planché resigned his membership of the Society of Antiquaries in 1852, for the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester, a task which he repeated in South Kensington in 1868. Concerned by the state of the armour in the Tower of London, Planché wrote several reports on the subject between 1855 and 1869. In that year, the War Office invited him to rearrange the collection in chronological order, which was one of the things for which he had been campaigning. Planché's personal life inspired two works. In 1864 he published A Corner of Kent, or some account of the parish of Ash next Sandwich, the result of three years' work on what was originally intended as a short guidebook to antiquities within the parish of his son in law, the Rev. Henry Mackarness. In 1872 he published his autobiography, a two volume work entitled The Recollections and Reflections of J. R. Planché (Somerset Herald): a professional biography, containing many anecdotes of his life in the theatre. monuments in Shrewsbury Abbey, the Neville monuments, the Earls of Sussex, of Gloucester and of Hereford, and the Fairford windows. before publishing in 1852 The Pursuivant of Arms, or, Heraldry founded upon facts. As indicated by the subtitle, Planché was concerned with verifiable facts, as opposed to the unfounded theories perpetuated by many earlier heraldic writers. Two years later a vacancy occurred at the College of Arms, the office responsible for administering English heraldic affairs. Planché was offered, and accepted, the position of Rouge Croix Pursuivant, one of the four junior most officers of arms. Some years previously he had indicated his interest in becoming an officer of arms, should a vacancy arise, to the Duke of Norfolk, who as Earl Marshal is responsible for the College of Arms. Planché was also an acquaintance of Charles Young, Garter King of Arms, the principal officer of arms at the college. For three years from the end of 1856, he focused on the duties of his new office and his scholarly pursuits. were left open.