The Forty Thieves
Encyclopedia
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
Burlesque" written by Robert Reece
Robert Reece
Robert Reece was a British comic playwright and librettist active in the Victorian era. He wrote many successful musical burlesques, comic operas, farces and adaptations from the French, including the English-language adaptation of the operetta Les cloches de Corneville, which became the...
, W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
, F. C. Burnand and Henry J. Byron, created in 1878 as an amateur production for the Beefsteak Club
Beefsteak Club
Beefsteak Club is the name, nickname and historically common misnomer applied by sources to several 18th and 19th century male dining clubs that celebrated the beefsteak as a symbol of patriotic and often Whig concepts of liberty and prosperity....
of London. The Beefsteak Club still meets in Irving Street, London. It was founded by actor John Lawrence Toole
John Lawrence Toole
John Lawrence Toole was an English comic actor and theatrical producer. He was famous for his roles in farce and in serio-comic melodramas in a career that spanned more than four decades...
and others in 1876, in rooms above the Folly Theatre
Folly Theatre
The Folly Theatre was a London theatre of the late 19th century, in William IV Street, near Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster. It was converted from the house of a religious order, and became a small theatre, with a capacity of 900 seated and standing. The theatre specialised in presenting...
, King William IV Street. It became an essential after theatre club for the bohemian theatre set, such as Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
, Toole, 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...
, W. H. Kendal, F. C. Burnand, Henry Labouchère
Henry Labouchere
Henry Du Pré Labouchère was an English politician, writer, publisher and theatre owner in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. He married the actress Henrietta Hodson....
, W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
and two hundred of their peers. It soon moved to Green Street. The Club occasionally performed amateur plays for their own amusement and to raise funds for charities.
The entertainment was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
by its proprietor, John Hollingshead
John Hollingshead
John Hollingshead was an English theatrical impresario, journalist and writer during the latter half of the 19th century. He is best remembered as the first manager of the Gaiety Theatre, London...
(also a member of the Club), as the Wednesday matinee on 13 February 1878. Robert Soutar (Nellie Farren
Nellie Farren
Nellie Farren was an English actress and singer best known for her roles as the "principal boy" in musical burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre.Born into a theatrical family, Farren began acting as a child...
's husband) acted as director/stage manager, with John D'Auban
John D'Auban
Frederick John D'Auban was an English dancer, choreographer and actor of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Famous during his lifetime as the ballet-master at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, he is best remembered as the choreographer of many of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas.After performing as a...
choreographing the Harlequinade
Harlequinade
Harlequinade is a comic theatrical genre, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th centuries...
that was played at the end of the pantomime. Meyer Lutz
Meyer Lutz
Wilhelm Meyer Lutz was a German-born English composer and conductor who is best known for light music, musical theatre and burlesques of well-known works....
conducted the music. Hollingshead secured the services of the professional female actors, the male amateur actors, the distinguished writers, Hollingshead later remembered, "...the gem of the performance was the grimly earnest and determined Harlequin of W. S. Gilbert. It gave me an idea of what Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
would have made of the character."
Proceeds from the first performance of the piece were 700 pounds sterling, owing to a sell-out charity crowd paying enhanced prices. The Prince and Princess of Wales and many other dignitaries attended. Most of the proceeds were given to the Royal General Theatrical Fund and some to hospitals. The entertainment was presented again, with similar success, at Brighton on 9 March 1878 and again at the Gaiety on 10 April, to benefit wives and children of seamen killed in the sinking of .
Roles and cast
The male cast members were amateur actors who were members of The Beefsteak Club. The female cast members were professional actresses.- Ali Baba (a Woodcutter) – Captain Arthur Gooch
- Ganem (his Son) – W. F. Quintin (Quintin Twiss)
- Cassim (his Brother) – Algernon Bastard
- Hassarac (Captain of the Forty Thieves) – Joseph Maclean (the only male non-member of the Beefsteak Club)
- Abdallah (his Lieutenant) – Mr. Colnaghi (Helen Barry in trousersBreeches roleA breeches role is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing .In opera it also refers to any male character that is sung and acted by a female singer...
) - Mesrour – F. H. McCalmont
- Gentlemen of "The Forty" (The Deserving Hanging Committee): (portrayed by:) William YardleyWilliam Yardley (cricketer)William Yardley was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent from 1868 to 1878 and for Cambridge University from 1869 to 1872. In the early 1870s, only WG Grace was reckoned his superior amongst amateur batsmen...
, Leslie WardLeslie WardSir Leslie Matthew Ward , was a British portrait artist and caricaturist who drew or painted numerous portraits which were regularly published by Vanity Fair, under the pseudonyms "Spy" and "Drawl".-Background:...
, Gilbert Farquhar, Hon. F. Parker, W. Higgins, Major Rolls, Archibald Stuart-Wortley, E. Darell, J. Westropp, J. Cumming, C. Ringrose, C. Daly, Hugh Drummond, J. Graham, Cecil Chapman, A. B. Cook, Benson, Amphlett and Hon. C. Vivian - Morgiana – Lydia ThompsonLydia ThompsonLydia Thompson, born Eliza Hodges Thompson , was an English dancer, actress and theatrical producer....
- Cogia – Eleanor Bufton
- The Good Fairy – Lucy Buckstone
- Twenty young ladies from the Alhambra TheatreAlhambra TheatreThe Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as The Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two years and reopened as the Alhambra. The building was...
Characters in The Harlequinade
- Clown – William Gerald Elliot
- Pantaloon – Thomas Knox Holmes
- Columbine – Mdlle. Rosa
- Harlequin – W. S. GilbertW. S. GilbertSir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
- Swell – Lord De Clifford
- Tailor – W. F. Quinton
- Butterman – C. Ringrose
- Baker – L. Ward
- Sweep – W. Higgins
- Waiter – J. Westropp
- Ung Mossoo – Algernon Bastard
- Policeman – Captain H. E. Colvile
- Artist – Leslie WardLeslie WardSir Leslie Matthew Ward , was a British portrait artist and caricaturist who drew or painted numerous portraits which were regularly published by Vanity Fair, under the pseudonyms "Spy" and "Drawl".-Background:...
- Bricklayer – J. Graham
- Butcher – C. Chapman
- A Gent – A. B. Cook
- Old Woman – F. H. McCalmont
Synopsis
Ali Baba- Scene 1. Written by Robert ReeceRobert ReeceRobert Reece was a British comic playwright and librettist active in the Victorian era. He wrote many successful musical burlesques, comic operas, farces and adaptations from the French, including the English-language adaptation of the operetta Les cloches de Corneville, which became the...
– Exterior of Ali Baba's House - Scene 2. Written by W. S. GilbertW. S. GilbertSir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
– The Wood - Scene 3. Written by F. C. Burnand – Interior of Ali Baba's House
- Scene 4. Written by H. J. Byron – The Cave
The Transformation
The Harlequinade
- Scene 1. A Quiet Street
- Scene 2. An Equally Quiet Bedroom