Austral-American Advertising Syndicate Austral-American Advertising Syndicate i(A57434 works by) (Organisation) assertion
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 1 y separately published work icon Dick Whittington Up-to-Date Francis Myers , Macmahon Brothers , Sydney : Macmahon Brothers , 1897 Z859561 1897 single work musical theatre pantomime fantasy

This version of the popular pantomime is said to have made a recognisable departure from the usual productions, by introducing the harlequinade (titled 'The Terrible Day') at the beginning, thus increasing its importance, and thereby decreasing the significance of the pantomime portion of the story somewhat.

The production was also described as having taken the typical localisations and topical allusions a step further by infusing the story with an added political motive. 'Interwoven with the nursery story of Dick Whittington,' writes the Sydney Morning Herald critic, is 'a serious satire upon the trend of the federation movement in Australia... in the first scene we find two cooks under the names of Hobson and Jobson very cleverly - in make-up at least - personifying no less personages than Mr Reid and Sir George Turner, and busily employed in preparing a federation stew, a device which enables the author to cleverly introduce some of the burning questions of the day' (28 December 1897, p.4).

[Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive]

X