George Graves as Widow Twankey |
I assume that he is dressed as Widow Twankey in the pantomime of Aladdin. Again according to Wikipedia, Widow Twankey is Aladdin's mother and runs a Chinese laundry, in China - in spite of Aladdin being based on a tale in the Arabian Nights. It makes no sense, of course. And it's one of the comic pantomime roles that is always played by a man in drag. George Graves appears to be wearing a very splendid Chinese costume, with an embroidered panel down the front of the skirt, and a patchwork silk coat over it. And he is portrayed knitting - a simple piece of garter stitch, but it looks he might actually be working on it. Though having said that, there is no sign of a ball of wool, and there appears to be a big gap between the stitches on the two needles. So maybe it is all for show. You can't expect realism in pantomime.
No comments:
Post a Comment