Aladdin

Actor and comedian Leslie Henson (1891-1957) joined the Royal Flying Corps during World War I and was sent to France, where he organised shows to entertain the troops. In the autumn of 1918 he was stationed in Lille, which had been recently evacuated by the German forces, and was able to stage revues at the abandoned Lille Opera House. After the Armistice in November 1918 the troops remained in Lille and, according to Henson’s autobiography My Laugh Story, the shows at the Opera House became a regular institution. For Christmas 1918 the army commander demanded a pantomime, which had to be prepared within a fortnight. The company staged Aladdin. Henson, who co-wrote the script with the second comedian Rob Currie, played Abanazar. He also devised the staging, utilsing some of the Opera House’s existing scenery which included what he described as ‘“Wagnerian” stuff’. The show was a great success. It opened on Christmas Eve 1918 and ran for six weeks, until Henson was demobbed.