Did Planche ever knowingly violate “accuracy” in stage design?
Yes, usually in plays which were meant to be perceived as purely fanciful, especially the revues. His first revue, “Success,” utilized a variety of periods and cultures in costuming its characters, who were meant purposely to look like a varied lot–for instance, London newspapers were represented by people dressed in styles suggested by their titles. Furthermore, not only costume, but scenery, was playfully eclectic, as is testified to by the playbills, promising a mixture of architectural styles in a palace, for example. Also in “The Seven Champions of Christendom,” costume accuracy was thrown to the wind, and the playbills even announced that the period and origin of the costumes was whatever the audience cared to imagine. In all the revues, there are figures who are dressed allegorically, for instance, two women appearing as “Britain” and “France” in “Mr. Buckstone’s Voyage ‘Round the Globe.” Even in other plays, characters were actually sometimes dressed in violation of “accuracy”
