Story: Theatre companies and producers

The cast of Pollard's Opera Company (initially called Pollard's Liliputians) was originally mainly members of founder James Pollard's large family. These photos, from an 1898 issue of the arts magazine Triad, show two scenes from the production Djinn-Djinn – the fan ballet (top) and the snow ballet. Pollard's company first toured New Zealand in 1881. Later run by Tom Pollard, the company closed in 1903, though another company of the same name operated from 1907 to 1910.