It was on this day in 1663 that arguably the first London theatre, now known as the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened. A result of the Restoration of Charles II, it was only one of two buildings in London, licensed by the King to perform ‘talk drama’ as opposed to musical entertainment (possibly because Charles’ ‘significant other’, Nell Gwynn, was an actress, amongst her other talents). Despite the odd mishap (loss in the Fire of London) and closure (during plague), the venue has survived through four reincarnations and is currently playing host to the highly popular stage musical version of Shrek.

When it comes to costumes, Shrek is rapidly becoming one of our main costume themes, given that it has links with so many fairy tale characters (many of which are Disney costume characters).

Here are just some of the popular choices of characters for this particular costume theme.

• Shrek
• Princess Fiona
• Donkey
• Puss in Boots
• Gingerbread Man
• Snow White
• Three Little Pigs
• Pinocchio
• Three Blind Mice
• Peter Pan
• Monsieur Hood (AKA Robin Hood)
• Big Bad Wold
• Doris The Ugly Step Sister
• Cinderella
• Sleeping Beauty
• Merlin – look at our wizard costumes & accessories
• Fairy Godmother
• Rumplestiltskin
• Prince Charming
• Jack & Jill
• Rapunzel
• Captain Hook
• Humpty Dumpty
• Evil Queen
• Witches – we have a huge range of witch costumes & accessories
• Sir Lancelot
• The Black Knight
• The Pied Piper