The 1881 production of Robinson Crusoe was the most expensively
produced pantomime to date. It had an orchestra of 30, 150
dancers, 260 children and 'supers' (extras), and a total staff
of 700 or 800. Considerable licence had to be taken with Daniel
Defoe's original story in order to incorporate all the
traditional elements of the Christmas pantomime, and one
journalist noted that 'Defoe would not be likely to recognise
his own story if he could witness it represented at Drury Lane'.
Man Friday, the black native whom Crusoe befriends in the book
was played by Charles Lauri – a white actor blacked up and
masked, whose comic performance was described as 'nimble and
graceful'. Many Victorians had little idea of the difference
between African and Indian cultures and the two were freely
mixed in the play. The tribe of 'cannibals' from whom Friday is
rescued dance an Indian ballet, and 'they march to an old Hindu
air that is very appropriate'.