Box and Cox
Encyclopedia
Box and Cox is a one act farce
by John Maddison Morton
. It is based on a French one-act vaudeville
, Frisette, which had been produced in Paris in 1846.
Box and Cox was first produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London, on 1 November 1847, billed as a "romance of real life." The play became popular and was revived frequently through the end of the nineteenth century, with occasional productions in the twentieth century. It spawned a sequel by another author, in 1867, and was adapted as a one-act comic opera
in 1866 by the dramatist F. C. Burnand and the composer Arthur Sullivan
, Cox and Box
, which also became popular and continues to be performed regularly. Other musical adaptations were made, but have not remained in the repertory.
The phrase "Box and Cox" has entered the English language: the Oxford English Dictionary
defines it as "applied allusively to an arrangement in which two persons take turns in sustaining a part, occupying a position, or the like."
playgoers' expectations. The main source of Morton's play was a French one-act vaudeville
, Frisette, by Eugène Marin Labiche
and Auguste Lefranc, which had been produced at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
, Paris in 1846. Some commentators have stated that Morton also drew on another vaudeville, La Chambre à Deux Lits (The Double Room), which itself reputedly derived from earlier French, English and Spanish comedies. Morton is not known to have pronounced on the matter, but F. C. Burnand, who later adapted Box and Cox as an operetta
discounted the importance of La Chambre à Deux Lits. He wrote, "Whether La Chambre was 'taken from the Spanish', who, I dare say, have got on very well without it, or not, certainly it was not the original source of Box and Cox. This immortal English farce was adapted – a masterpiece of adaptation, be it said – from a comédie-vaudeville by Labiche and Lefranc entitled Frisette." Burnand added that the later sections of the plot of Box and Cox, namely the men's connubial entanglements, their efforts to evade them, and the discovery that they are brothers, were not derived from anyone, and were "thoroughly Mortonian".
In Frisette, an unscrupulous landlady rents the same room to a young woman (Frisette, a lace-maker) by night, and to a young man (Gaudrion, a baker) by day. In Box and Cox, both the lodgers are male.
Reviewing the first performance, The Standard said, "The piece is neatly and smartly written, but it is not difficult to guess that it owes its salvation solely to the felicitous whimsicalities of the two actors upon whom it chiefly devolves. The grotesque gentility of Harley, the hatter, is drolly matched by the cockney
vulgarity of Buckstone, the printer, and both have ample room for the exhibition of their own peculiar conceits of method – those never-failing helps to mirth. Box and Cox, in short, are a pair of pleasant varlets, and promise to be long in the good graces of the public." The theatrical newspaper The Era
said, "A more 'laughable farce' has not been produced for many a day."
The audience was enthusiastic, and Box and Cox became the first success of the Lyceum under the new management of Lucia Elizabeth Vestris
and Charles James Mathews
. Matthews assumed the role of Cox later in the run.
Box has brought home with him a rasher of bacon, which he at once prepares to cook. He lights the fire, is indignant that his matches have been used and his candles burnt low; for, being at home only during the day, he suspects Mrs. Bouncer of these depredations. Leaving his bacon to cook, he retires to bed for a short nap. Cox then returns, having been given the day off by his employer. He has bought a mutton chop and, going to cook it on the gridiron, finds the fire already lit and the rasher of bacon on the gridiron. He removes it, puts his chop in its stead, and hurries into an adjoining room for a plate. The slamming of the door awakens Box, who, recollecting his bacon, leaps from the bed, and finds the chop where he had left the rasher. He angrily seizes the chop, flings it from the window, and leaves the room to fetch a plate. Cox re-enters, and, in lieu of his chop, discovers the rasher, which follows the chop out of the window. Box and Cox meet, each imagining the other to be an intruder, each pulling from his pocket the last week's receipt for rent, and each clamouring loudly for redress from the landlady. Mrs. Bouncer is forced to explain the mystery, and she throws herself on the kindness of Box and Cox by promising either of them a handsome second floor back room, which she hurries off to prepare.
Frustrated, Box asks, "Hark ye, sir – can you fight?" Cox answers, "No, sir." Box: "No? Then come on!" Agreeing, however, that they have no quarrel with each other, and that the whole mess is Mrs. Bouncer's fault, Box and Cox converse civilly. It emerges that Cox is about to be married to a widow, Penelope Anne Wiggins, a prosperous proprietress of bathing machine
s at Margate
and Ramsgate
. Box is astonished, as he too had once been engaged to Mrs. Wiggins, but, he reveals, he had struck on an ingenious plan to escape her clutches: he had pretended to commit suicide by drowning. Cox is equally reluctant to marry her. The two argue about which of them is obliged to do so, and eventually they call for pistols. When Mrs. Bouncer goes to bring them, Cox cries, "Stop! You don't mean to say ... that you keep loaded fire-arms in the house?" "Oh, no", says Mrs. Bouncer, "they're not loaded". Cox: "Then produce the murderous weapons instantly!" Meanwhile, the two agree to cast dice; the loser must marry Penelope Anne. Both have loaded dice, and at each successive throw they continue to throw sixes. The dice are then changed for shillings. At every toss each man's coin lands on heads, as both contestants are using double-headed coins.
The impasse is broken when a letter arrives from Margate stating that Penelope Anne has drowned in a boating accident, and has left her property to her intended husband. Box and Cox now argue their claims to the bathing machines, but finally they agree to split the fortune. Now a second letter arrives, which states that Penelope Anne is quite safe and is on the road to London to claim her lover. Escape is now hopeless, and Box and Cox are in despair. A vehicle arrives, a knock resounds at the door, and Box and Cox place their backs to the door. Penelope Anne goes away again, leaving another letter revealing that she has decided to marry Mr Knox, an admirer nearer her own age. Box and Cox are delighted, and their happiness is completed by the realisation that they are brothers, who have been long separated (Box: "Have you such a thing as a strawberry mark on your left arm?" Cox: "No!" Box: "Then it is he!"). They reject the second-floor back room and determine to reside permanently in the same room, and under the tenancy of the same landlady.
The piece became a popular favourite; from late 1847 it was widely staged throughout the United Kingdom, and it was frequently performed to raise funds for causes including a new drama college and the proposed Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. In January 1849, a command performance
of Box and Cox was given at Windsor Castle
to Queen Victoria
and her family and court. Harley and Buckstone repeated their original roles, and "the Royal party laughed heartily". The Queen and Prince Albert saw the play again in 1850, at a revival at the Haymarket Theatre
, starring Buckstone, together with Hamlet
and Buckstone's The Rough Diamond. In 1856 a performance was given by army personnel in the Crimea
, with an officer of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers playing Mrs Bouncer en travesti. The New York Times
called the play "the best farce of the nineteenth century".
Box and Cox was revived at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, London, in 1867 with G. Honey as Box, John Hare
as Cox, and Leigh Murray as Mrs. Bouncer; and again at the Haymarket Theatre in 1889, with H. Nicholls as Cox, E. M. Robson as Box, and Mrs. E. Phelps as Mrs. Bouncer. It was first performed in America at the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, with W. E. Burton and Joseph Jefferson
in the title roles. In the twentieth century, it was successfully revived at the London Coliseum in 1924, the cast comprising Donald Calthrop
, Hubert Harben and Dora Gregory, and in 1961 Lindsay Anderson
directed the work at the Royal Court Theatre
.
The play became so well known that the humorous magazine Punch
printed a mock examination paper on it for use in drama schools, with such questions as "What was Mrs. Bouncer's ostensible employment? Would Mrs. Siddons
, at any time in her career, have been justified in refusing this part? If so, state when, and give your reasons." Punch (and others) also used the characters of Box and Cox to represent the two opposing British party leaders, Benjamin Disraeli and W. E. Gladstone
.
The popularity of Box and Cox suggested the production of Box and Cox Married and Settled, a farce in one act, by Joseph Stirling Coyne
, first performed at the Haymarket Theatre on 15 October 1852, with Buckstone as Box, Robert Keeley as Cox, Mr. Coe as "an anonymous gent," Mrs. Caulfield as Mrs. Box, Mrs. L. S. Buckingham as Mrs. Cox, and Mrs. Selby as Mrs. Bouncer. The Morning Post gave this plot summary: "Box and Cox have both retired from business, both having been left enough money to live on, and they have a wife and baby apiece. Cox's better half turns out to be the former sweetheart of Box, who, in imprudently making himself known to her, is discovered by the lady's husband. There is, of course, immense indignation from Mr Cox and Mrs Box, and great fun arises out of the various demonstrations of these injured individuals. Everything, however, is arranged to the satisfaction of all parties."
Box and Cox achieved further notice when F. C. Burnand adapted it as a comic opera libretto under the title of Cox and Box
, set to music by Arthur Sullivan
in 1866. The piece was Sullivan's first produced comic opera. It played privately, then given a successful production by the German Reeds in 1869, and was later taken up by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
, which played the piece throughout Britain and overseas for about a century, and licensed it to numerous amateur companies. The opera continues to be performed regularly. A later musical adaptation, Daye and Knight, with libretto by Walter Parke and music by Louise Barone, was presented by the German Reed Entertainment
at St. George's Hall, London, in 1895. Both the lodgers in that version were young women. In 1885, there had been another musical treatment of the same plot, John and Jeanette, by L. Machele and J. Batchelder, but that version was based directly on Labiche and Lefranc's 1846 vaudeville Frisette, rather than on Box and Cox.
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
by John Maddison Morton
John Maddison Morton
John Maddison Morton was an English playwright who specialized in one-act farces. His most famous farce was Box and Cox . He also wrote comic dramas, pantomimes and other theatrical pieces.-Biography:...
. It is based on a French one-act vaudeville
Comédie en vaudeville
The Comédie en vaudeville was a theatrical entertainment which began in Paris towards the end of the 17th century, in which comedy was enlivened though lyrics using the melody of popular vaudeville songs.-Evolution:...
, Frisette, which had been produced in Paris in 1846.
Box and Cox was first produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London, on 1 November 1847, billed as a "romance of real life." The play became popular and was revived frequently through the end of the nineteenth century, with occasional productions in the twentieth century. It spawned a sequel by another author, in 1867, and was adapted as a one-act comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
in 1866 by the dramatist F. C. Burnand and the composer Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
, Cox and Box
Cox and Box
Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
, which also became popular and continues to be performed regularly. Other musical adaptations were made, but have not remained in the repertory.
The phrase "Box and Cox" has entered the English language: the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
defines it as "applied allusively to an arrangement in which two persons take turns in sustaining a part, occupying a position, or the like."
Background
In the nineteenth century, it was common practice for plays to be adapted from French originals for the London stage, with changes often made to conform to VictorianVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
playgoers' expectations. The main source of Morton's play was a French one-act vaudeville
Comédie en vaudeville
The Comédie en vaudeville was a theatrical entertainment which began in Paris towards the end of the 17th century, in which comedy was enlivened though lyrics using the melody of popular vaudeville songs.-Evolution:...
, Frisette, by Eugène Marin Labiche
Eugène Marin Labiche
Eugène Marin Labiche was a French dramatist.-Biography:He was born into a bourgeois family and studied law. At the age of twenty, he contributed a short story to Chérubin magazine, entitled Les plus belles sont les plus fausses. A few others followed , but failed to catch the attention of the...
and Auguste Lefranc, which had been produced at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
Théâtre du Palais-Royal
The Théâtre du Palais-Royal is a 750 seat theatre at 38, rue Montpensier in Paris. In 1637 Cardinal Richelieu began work on a theatre on the east wing of the Palais-Royal building, to break the theatre monopoly of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and it was opened in 1641...
, Paris in 1846. Some commentators have stated that Morton also drew on another vaudeville, La Chambre à Deux Lits (The Double Room), which itself reputedly derived from earlier French, English and Spanish comedies. Morton is not known to have pronounced on the matter, but F. C. Burnand, who later adapted Box and Cox as an operetta
Cox and Box
Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
discounted the importance of La Chambre à Deux Lits. He wrote, "Whether La Chambre was 'taken from the Spanish', who, I dare say, have got on very well without it, or not, certainly it was not the original source of Box and Cox. This immortal English farce was adapted – a masterpiece of adaptation, be it said – from a comédie-vaudeville by Labiche and Lefranc entitled Frisette." Burnand added that the later sections of the plot of Box and Cox, namely the men's connubial entanglements, their efforts to evade them, and the discovery that they are brothers, were not derived from anyone, and were "thoroughly Mortonian".
In Frisette, an unscrupulous landlady rents the same room to a young woman (Frisette, a lace-maker) by night, and to a young man (Gaudrion, a baker) by day. In Box and Cox, both the lodgers are male.
Original production
Box and Cox was first performed at the Lyceum Theatre, London, on 1 November 1847. The cast was:- James Cox – John Pritt HarleyJohn Pritt HarleyJohn Pritt Harley was an English actor known for his comic acting and singing.-Early years:Harley was the son of John Harley, a draper and silk mercer, and his wife Elizabeth. He was baptised in the parish church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 5 March 1786. At the age of fifteen, he was...
- John Box – John Baldwin BuckstoneJohn Baldwin BuckstoneJohn Baldwin Buckstone was an English actor, playwright and comedian who wrote 150 plays, the first of which was produced in 1826....
- Mrs. Bouncer – Mrs. (Frances) Macnamara.
Reviewing the first performance, The Standard said, "The piece is neatly and smartly written, but it is not difficult to guess that it owes its salvation solely to the felicitous whimsicalities of the two actors upon whom it chiefly devolves. The grotesque gentility of Harley, the hatter, is drolly matched by the cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
vulgarity of Buckstone, the printer, and both have ample room for the exhibition of their own peculiar conceits of method – those never-failing helps to mirth. Box and Cox, in short, are a pair of pleasant varlets, and promise to be long in the good graces of the public." The theatrical newspaper The Era
The Era (newspaper)
The Era was a British weekly paper, published from 1838 to 1939. Originally a general newspaper, it became noted for its sports coverage, and later for its theatrical content.-History:...
said, "A more 'laughable farce' has not been produced for many a day."
The audience was enthusiastic, and Box and Cox became the first success of the Lyceum under the new management of Lucia Elizabeth Vestris
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris was an English actress and a contralto opera singer, appearing in Mozart and Rossini works. While popular in her time, she was more notable as a theatre producer and manager...
and Charles James Mathews
Charles James Mathews
Charles James Mathews was a British actor. He was one of the few British actors to be successful in French-speaking roles in France. A son of the actor Charles Mathews, he achieved a greater reputation than his father in the same profession and also excelled at light comedy...
. Matthews assumed the role of Cox later in the run.
Plot
Mrs. Bouncer, a London lodging-house keeper, is letting an apartment to a double tenantry – to Box, a printer on a daily newspaper, and to Cox, a journeyman hatter, the former occupying the room during the day, the latter during the night. They invariably meet on the stairs of the lodging-house when one comes in from work as the other is going out, but neither has any idea that Mrs Bouncer is letting his room to the other. Cox, suspicious that Mrs. Bouncer has been using his flat during the day, complains to her that his coal keeps disappearing and there is "a steady increase of evaporation among my candles, wood, sugar and lucifer matches." He also complains that his room is continually full of tobacco smoke. Mrs. Bouncer gives various excuses – among others, that Box, who, she says, occupies the attic, is a persistent smoker, and that his smoke must come down the chimney. Cox departs for his work at the hat shop, and on the stairs passes Box who is returning from the night shift at the newspaper.Box has brought home with him a rasher of bacon, which he at once prepares to cook. He lights the fire, is indignant that his matches have been used and his candles burnt low; for, being at home only during the day, he suspects Mrs. Bouncer of these depredations. Leaving his bacon to cook, he retires to bed for a short nap. Cox then returns, having been given the day off by his employer. He has bought a mutton chop and, going to cook it on the gridiron, finds the fire already lit and the rasher of bacon on the gridiron. He removes it, puts his chop in its stead, and hurries into an adjoining room for a plate. The slamming of the door awakens Box, who, recollecting his bacon, leaps from the bed, and finds the chop where he had left the rasher. He angrily seizes the chop, flings it from the window, and leaves the room to fetch a plate. Cox re-enters, and, in lieu of his chop, discovers the rasher, which follows the chop out of the window. Box and Cox meet, each imagining the other to be an intruder, each pulling from his pocket the last week's receipt for rent, and each clamouring loudly for redress from the landlady. Mrs. Bouncer is forced to explain the mystery, and she throws herself on the kindness of Box and Cox by promising either of them a handsome second floor back room, which she hurries off to prepare.
Frustrated, Box asks, "Hark ye, sir – can you fight?" Cox answers, "No, sir." Box: "No? Then come on!" Agreeing, however, that they have no quarrel with each other, and that the whole mess is Mrs. Bouncer's fault, Box and Cox converse civilly. It emerges that Cox is about to be married to a widow, Penelope Anne Wiggins, a prosperous proprietress of bathing machine
Bathing machine
The bathing machine was a device, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, to allow people to change out of their usual clothes, possibly change into swimwear and then wade in the ocean at beaches. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts rolled into the sea...
s at Margate
Margate
-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
and Ramsgate
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
. Box is astonished, as he too had once been engaged to Mrs. Wiggins, but, he reveals, he had struck on an ingenious plan to escape her clutches: he had pretended to commit suicide by drowning. Cox is equally reluctant to marry her. The two argue about which of them is obliged to do so, and eventually they call for pistols. When Mrs. Bouncer goes to bring them, Cox cries, "Stop! You don't mean to say ... that you keep loaded fire-arms in the house?" "Oh, no", says Mrs. Bouncer, "they're not loaded". Cox: "Then produce the murderous weapons instantly!" Meanwhile, the two agree to cast dice; the loser must marry Penelope Anne. Both have loaded dice, and at each successive throw they continue to throw sixes. The dice are then changed for shillings. At every toss each man's coin lands on heads, as both contestants are using double-headed coins.
The impasse is broken when a letter arrives from Margate stating that Penelope Anne has drowned in a boating accident, and has left her property to her intended husband. Box and Cox now argue their claims to the bathing machines, but finally they agree to split the fortune. Now a second letter arrives, which states that Penelope Anne is quite safe and is on the road to London to claim her lover. Escape is now hopeless, and Box and Cox are in despair. A vehicle arrives, a knock resounds at the door, and Box and Cox place their backs to the door. Penelope Anne goes away again, leaving another letter revealing that she has decided to marry Mr Knox, an admirer nearer her own age. Box and Cox are delighted, and their happiness is completed by the realisation that they are brothers, who have been long separated (Box: "Have you such a thing as a strawberry mark on your left arm?" Cox: "No!" Box: "Then it is he!"). They reject the second-floor back room and determine to reside permanently in the same room, and under the tenancy of the same landlady.
Later productions and adaptations
Royal Command Performance
For the annual Royal Variety Performance performed in Britain for the benefit of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, see Royal Variety Performance...
of Box and Cox was given at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
to Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
and her family and court. Harley and Buckstone repeated their original roles, and "the Royal party laughed heartily". The Queen and Prince Albert saw the play again in 1850, at a revival at the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
, starring Buckstone, together with Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
and Buckstone's The Rough Diamond. In 1856 a performance was given by army personnel in the Crimea
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, with an officer of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers playing Mrs Bouncer en travesti. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called the play "the best farce of the nineteenth century".
Box and Cox was revived at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, London, in 1867 with G. Honey as Box, John Hare
John Hare (actor)
Sir John Hare , born John Fairs, was an English actor and manager of the Garrick Theatre in London from 1889 to 1895.-Biography:Hare was born in Giggleswick in Yorkshire and was educated at Giggleswick school...
as Cox, and Leigh Murray as Mrs. Bouncer; and again at the Haymarket Theatre in 1889, with H. Nicholls as Cox, E. M. Robson as Box, and Mrs. E. Phelps as Mrs. Bouncer. It was first performed in America at the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, with W. E. Burton and Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson, commonly known as Joe Jefferson , was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous of all American comedians....
in the title roles. In the twentieth century, it was successfully revived at the London Coliseum in 1924, the cast comprising Donald Calthrop
Donald Calthrop
Donald Calthrop was an English stage and film actor. He starred as the title character in the hit musical The Boy in 1917. He then appeared in 63 films between 1916 and 1940, including five films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.He was born in London and died in Eton from a heart attack.He was the...
, Hubert Harben and Dora Gregory, and in 1961 Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
directed the work at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
.
The play became so well known that the humorous magazine Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
printed a mock examination paper on it for use in drama schools, with such questions as "What was Mrs. Bouncer's ostensible employment? Would Mrs. Siddons
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character,...
, at any time in her career, have been justified in refusing this part? If so, state when, and give your reasons." Punch (and others) also used the characters of Box and Cox to represent the two opposing British party leaders, Benjamin Disraeli and W. E. Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
.
The popularity of Box and Cox suggested the production of Box and Cox Married and Settled, a farce in one act, by Joseph Stirling Coyne
Joseph Stirling Coyne
Joseph Stirling Coyne was a humorist and satirist in the tradition of Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. One of the most prolific British playwrights of the mid-nineteenth century, he wrote more than sixty plays; his twenty-seven farces are surpassed in number only by John Maddison Morton's...
, first performed at the Haymarket Theatre on 15 October 1852, with Buckstone as Box, Robert Keeley as Cox, Mr. Coe as "an anonymous gent," Mrs. Caulfield as Mrs. Box, Mrs. L. S. Buckingham as Mrs. Cox, and Mrs. Selby as Mrs. Bouncer. The Morning Post gave this plot summary: "Box and Cox have both retired from business, both having been left enough money to live on, and they have a wife and baby apiece. Cox's better half turns out to be the former sweetheart of Box, who, in imprudently making himself known to her, is discovered by the lady's husband. There is, of course, immense indignation from Mr Cox and Mrs Box, and great fun arises out of the various demonstrations of these injured individuals. Everything, however, is arranged to the satisfaction of all parties."
Box and Cox achieved further notice when F. C. Burnand adapted it as a comic opera libretto under the title of Cox and Box
Cox and Box
Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
, set to music by Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
in 1866. The piece was Sullivan's first produced comic opera. It played privately, then given a successful production by the German Reeds in 1869, and was later taken up by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
, which played the piece throughout Britain and overseas for about a century, and licensed it to numerous amateur companies. The opera continues to be performed regularly. A later musical adaptation, Daye and Knight, with libretto by Walter Parke and music by Louise Barone, was presented by the German Reed Entertainment
German Reed Entertainment
German Reed Entertainment was founded in 1855 and operated by Thomas German Reed together with his wife, Priscilla Reed née Horton...
at St. George's Hall, London, in 1895. Both the lodgers in that version were young women. In 1885, there had been another musical treatment of the same plot, John and Jeanette, by L. Machele and J. Batchelder, but that version was based directly on Labiche and Lefranc's 1846 vaudeville Frisette, rather than on Box and Cox.