Cirrus@Austlit

Adapted from John Strachan's Humpty Dumpty (1873, Prince of Wales Theatre, Birmingham, England), with songs to operatic and other music, the Age proposed that this localised version by Messrs Carrington and J. Eville 'received an Australian complexion that adds to its native cleverness. Thanks to the labours of these gentlemen', wrote the paper's theatre critic, 'several leading incidents of the past year have been turned to merry account, and folly and fraud are held up to ridicule and contempt' (28 December 1874, p.3).

The story concerns Flameau the Fire King, who attempts to increase his power by forcing Princess Roseleaf to marry his close ally, the evil and ugly Humpty Dumpty. With the aid of Fairy Fern, queen of the fairies, Prince Prettyboy overcomes their dire intentions and wins the hand of the princess. A review of the premiere production notes that, as the pantomime progressed, the growth of Humpty Dumpty's head was 'cultivated at the expense of the other portions of his body, and he [came] on stage looking like a goblin that [had] just stepped out of an illustrated children's fairy book' (28 December 1874, p.3).

Numerous references to the Melbourne scene, politics, theatre (including J. C. Williamson's Struck Oil and Trollope's Bogus Clarke productions) were incorporated into the storyline. One of the topical hits saw J. R. Greville dressed as an overgrown boy dressed in knickerbockers and socks singing 'the song of the lively larrikin, in which an altogether groundless aspersion [was] cast upon a recent decision given in the Melbourne General Sessions' (28 December 1874, p.3).

Especially localised for the Duke of Edinburgh Theatre from E. L. Blanchard's pantomime Harlequin Sinbad the Sailor, the Age records that, in addition to the localisms and songs scattered throughout the production, Eville's additions 'appear to consist [of] three new scenes which precede the action proper of the burlesque' (28 December 1868, p.3). These introductory scenes concern Young Victoria (a youth who smokes, says 'my word', and takes credit for being particularly knowing) is on his way to discover the source of the Nile. He meets up with King Cheops, the Spirit of the Nile, and the Spirit of the Past; the latter 'represents the Victorian past of some fifteen years ago; and is habited as a gold-digger who sings of the times when men were fined 40s and taken away' (Argus 28 December 1868, p.6). The Spirit of the Nile refuses to comply with Young Victoria's request to see the source of the Nile and undertakes instead to present him with a faithful picture of Sinbad's adventures.

The storyline that follows is essentially Blanchard's original. The poor but honest Sinbad is helped by the Spirit of Enterprise, and subsequently sets out on a sea voyage in order to seek his fortune. After being wrecked on an island, he undergoes a series of wonderful adventures that include finding the Valley of Diamonds and encountering pygmies, a princess, and the Old Man of the Sea. While this is all happening, the wicked merchant, Ali Ben Rumphiz, comes across Sinbad's wrecked boat and attempts to sell all his goods to the tyrannical and greedy old monarch King of Nottatallsobad. Sinbad eventually ascends into the clouds in the clutches of the gigantic roc (a mythical bird found in many Arabian legends).

According to the Argus, one of the production highlights was King Notatallsobad's marching army, which comprised some sixty to seventy supernumeraries, half of whom were children. The army 'marched and countermarched, and performed the most intricate and complicated movements with perfect correctness, the children leading the whole way. At the conclusion of the evolutions the audience were loud in their expressions of approval' (p.6).

The pantomime's musical programme included popular songs and operatic airs, along with original incidental music for a number of ballet sequences, opening choruses, and overture.