Upcoming Exhibition

The eternal desire to see imaginary creations come to life has led to great creativity throughout history. The theatre productions of the Regency period sparked the beginning of the toy theatre, a creative hobby that saw young people colouring and cutting out sheets of characters and putting on miniature plays in their home.

This genre forms part of a continuum of printed works and optical toys that try to bring stories to life, pulling characters off the stage and off the page and creating a fanciful world of colour and motion.

The production and use of toy theatres, optical toys, and related visual media illuminate fascinating aspects of the history of household entertainments, childhood as well as print and theatre history.