I know this is not an operetta or pantomime but I have included it to show you sgraffito

I was not there the night they started to paint these flats, so can't claim the credit for "discovering" this technique.

"Look what we've done" they proudly explained. They had painted the hardboard flat with a dark brown colour, then, once it had dried, covered it with a yellow paint. But before that yellow had dried they scrapped the paint away with screwdrivers to reveal the brown underneath.

We all set to with a vengance and this is the result. (see close up on the left)

Little did we realise that this process of scraping off the top layer to reveal the underneath dates back centuries - and from it comes our word graffiti