Historical Characters
Queen Victoria – (reign: 1837-1901) Monarch and mighty matriarch of the nation. Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London, on 24 May 1819. Warmhearted and lively, Victoria had a gift for drawing and painting and upon the death of William IV in 1837, she became Queen at the tender age of 18 and married Prince Albert in 1840. Victoria was deeply attached to her husband and she sank into depression after he died, aged 42, in 1861. She had lost a devoted husband and her principal trusted adviser in affairs of state. For the rest of her reign she wore black. Performed by Red Sarah.
Prince Albert – The inventor, the trend-setter - and royal consort. Prince Albert, of German nobility married Victoria in 1840. He taught her much about how to be a ruler in a ‘constitutional monarchy’ where the monarch had very few powers but could use much influence. Albert took an active interest in the arts, science, trade and industry; the project for which he is best remembered was the Great Exhibition of 1851, the profits from which helped to establish the South Kensington museums complex in London. In death, he set the trend for the ‘new black’. Performed by Mark L Carter.
Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle – Author of the legendary Sherlock Holmes novels, Sir Arthur is considered the father of modern crime writing and was also a cleebrated science fiction writer too. He was a trained medical doctor who turned story teller and later in life, he become convinced of the paranormal. As a thorough protagonist of the supernatural with a peculiar penchant for fairies and spiritualism he worte, investigated and spoke in favour of such realms considering this to be his greatest and most important of his life’s work. Performed by Jim Devereaux.
Florence Cook – A young Spiritualist medium of rather dubious repute who took London by storm, rising from poverty to celebrity by manifesting the spirit of ‘Katie King’ during her séances. It just happened to add to the sexual spectacle of her semi-nude ‘entranced’ antics that Katie King was the long dead, murderess daughter of a 17th Century pirate - and a notorious whore.
Performed by Kirsty L Allan
Eugen Sandow - born Friederich Wilhem Mueller in Prussia, 25th April 1867 was known globally as “The Mighty Monarch of Muscle - a marvel of physical perfection”. When Sandow came to Britain in 1889 he became our athletic idol and invented apparatus, wrote books and opened gyms. It is even said that he fought a lion and defeated it (although it later came out that the lion had been drugged). Eugen remained a ladies man even after his marriage to Blanche Sandow who bore him two daughters. He died on October 16th 1925 of complications thought to be syphilis - his wife never allowed a marker to be placed over her husband’s grave. Performed by Red Sarah
Fictional Characters
Brigadier Smythe – A man of power and privelege, Smythe represents the irony of social rank over ability in the Army - and all the deadly trappings that come with it. Preferring to suckle at the ‘teat of the Empire’ behind lines rather than engage in real battle, Smythe is often found with an oriental pipe or a bottle to hand. He declares his devotion to sexy Queen and Country, becomes aroused when fondling the Union Flag, wonders if Mother Vicky is a good cook and orders his troops on fleeting whims. Performed by Jim Devereaux.
Britannia – The once proud Commander of Seas and Conqueror of Nations – what is her image worth today? In a haze of glorious pomp and pageantry she is unravelled by the tawdry tabloid headlines found in place of the Magna Carter.
Britannia appears as a sexy vision to the opium fuelled, brandy addled Brigadier Smythe who typically gets his jollies from the union flag itself. Performed by K. L Allan
FiFi Darling - Fashionista and ‘it girl’, FiFi is a young lady of handsome wealth, breeding and good looks. Chums with Superwaif, Flora Flannigan the pair set the trends and experiment with powders, potions and pills from the Empire which are thought to give vigour and colour to the cheeks whilst suppressing the apetite. Coming from a prestigiopus line of experimental apothecaries, Fifi’s family business has set her in good standing with the popular folk of London’s clubs. Performed by Melissa Hammond.
Flora Flannigan – From Potato Famine to Fashion Fame, Irish superwaif Flora was plucked from the very jaws of death as she unwittingly came ashore at the Liverpool docks and wandered straight in to the gaze of fashion guru, Granville Fowler as he scouted for new talent to fit his Z-bend corset range. An ing’eune with an obliging nature and a 14″ waist she quickly rose to fame inspiring the craze for ‘penury chic’ and tight-lacing with iron ribbon. Performed by Vicky Butterfly.
Gimcrack O’Syllabub – A happy songwriter fascinated by the trials and tribulations of Society, Gimcrack O’Syllabub makes musical commentary on his findings. Emplyed to entertain by Royal Command and also in the humble music halls, Gimcrack is a much loved entertainer. It is rumoured that a certain duo by the initials G & S are fans and have employed Gimcrack as a ‘ghost writer’ for the more risque operettas sold to private oversees patrons. Performed by Des O’Connor; various songs written by Des O’Connor.
Granville Fowler – Fashion designer, gossip columnist and notorious homosexual (hitherto an ‘invert’ or ‘uranian’), Granville is responsible for the latest trends and the latest gossip in the fashionable world but is himself followed by scandal and rhumour at every turn. As a dressmaker and milliner, Granville is a favourite of the Queen and was at one stage appointed her private style consultant. As the proponent of the 14″ waist he first shot to fame with his Z-bend corsets but was dogged with the ensuing ‘Z-bend debate’ which argued that young fashionistas were succumbing to the fatalities of tight-lacing. His latest llustrius ‘Pret A Morte ‘collection shows his unusual flair for ‘breaking the mould” leading to his famous combination of head based couture - and taxidermy .
Ever since the alleged incident of the infamous ‘trouser fumble’ where Lord Dashwood accused him of trying to snatch a grope during a fitting for hunting britches, he has been a figure of sexual misdemeanour leading to the police suspecting that he could be the elusive, mysterious, bum-ruffling menace - ‘The Piccadilly Prowler‘. Performed by Jim Devereaux, Piccadilly Prowler Song by Matt devereaux
Kitty De Winter-Fairbotham - A young woman of an experimental and curious disposition, Kitty endeavours to be an ‘amateur anthropologist’. Seeking to charitable works, write a worthwhile book one day and to better understand her fellow Britons (at home and abroad), she attempts all manner of investigations. From Sex and Society to the boredom of penury, she aims to help people of all classes she encounters - well, those on the right side of Brighton.
Performed by K. L Allan
Lord Dashwood - Francis Wilmott Lord Dashwood was born in 1825 in Balmoral, the illegitimate son of George Henry Dashwood, Earl of Wycombe and Mary Spencer, the celebrated actress. Despite a promising academic start at Harrow school, he was sent down from New College Oxford for interfering with a chorister and thereafter embarked upon the Grand Tour where he wrote his dreadful epic satire: ‘The Trials of Perseus’. It was whilst on tour that he fell into a quarrel with the future Prince Consort, who challenged Dashwood to a fencing duel. Either by luck or blind panic, Dashwood beat Prince Albert, and the two subsequently became great friends. Many have rumoured that it was in fact Dashwood who introduced Prince Albert to the British Court and suggested the marriage between the Prince and Dashwood’s distant cousin Queen Victoria.
A well known figure at Court, Dashwood’s life was dogged by scandal and intrigue. It was commonly rumoured that he was a spy, and was romantically connected with almost all the Royal houses of Europe, as well as with a great number of actresses and dancers. One such connection, with the popular contortionist Lilly Bell, led to a murder charges being brought against Dashwood in 1872 when Lilly’s husband was found dead in a Hackney bedsit. The case was dismissed from court and Dashwood went into exile in Greece, where he died in a tragic ballooning accident in May 1901. Performed by Mark L Carter.
Seaman Patch - A young cockney lad of about 15, who’s mother reared him om whelks, cockles and thimble of gin every night. He grew up with the sea in his blood - his father a sailor nightly regaled him with diverting tales of foreign lands, colourful exotic feasts for the belly and eyes and the hilarious sights of the near-naked savages desperate to be civilised, ruled and most of all - taught to drive trains. The moniker of ‘Patches’ was given to him in the brief few years that he received schooling where he would carry his father’s old moth-eaten Navy blanket. Seeking adventure and to taste the ‘pine-apple’, Patches joined the Navy as soon as he turned 15.
