Warwick Pageant

Part of a series of postcards published by the Water Colour Post Card Co., London showing scenes (tableaux) from the 1906 Warwick Pageant.

The Warwick Pageant was a huge drama festival, organised by Louis N. Parker, which took place in the grounds of Warwick Castle in July 1906 and was later described as “the biggest thing which ever happened to Warwick”.

The pageant was performed in the grounds of the castle during the week of 2 to 7 July 1906 and was a major undertaking. In 1905 the Warwick town authorities had approached Louis N. Parker and asked him to “add another triumph” to that which he had achieved with the Sherborne Pageant in Dorset, even though that one only used 820 performers. The excuse for the Warwick Pageant was that it should celebrate “the Commemoration of the Thousandth Anniversary of the Conquest of Mercia by Queen Ethelfleda”.

It was a leading principle that, as far as possible, everything used in the pageant should be designed and made in Warwick. There were two thousand performers, and three hundred ladies made 1,400 of the costumes. Forty amateur artists painted copies of mediaeval banners for Churches and Guilds, in addition to producing elaborate designs on materials for costumes. Most of this work was done in a property in Jury Street, Warwick that became known as Pageant House, by which name it is still known today. From the start it was to be “clearly understood that those participating in the Pageant as performers would do so anonymously”.

A wooden grandstand was constructed which could hold an audience of 4,800 people. It was designed to be “in one gentle slope at an angle that collects the sound waves and delivers them distinctly to the very back of the stand, which is 280 feet long”.

A detailed article about the Warwick Pageant may be found here.