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]
1897: Lyceum Theatre, Sydney; 27 December 1897 - 19 January 1898
