Cirrus@Austlit

The 1895 Brisbane season advertised the pantomime as 'the most interesting and mythical production ever placed before the public because it is fresh and new. The variety throughout the pantomime is brilliant ... [and includes] new and sparkling songs introduced for the first time in Brisbane' (Brisbane Courier 25 December 1895, p.2). The Courier's theatre critic reports that while the subject was 'perhaps, a welcome change from the more familiar tales of the nursery [The Miller and the Sweep] had the disadvantage of not being so well told. The dialogue is weak and the development of what little plot can be traced is not ingenious' (27 December 1895, p.6).

Haggard's original story concerns the penniless Leonard Outram, who attempts to redress the loss of his family fortune by seeking a new one in Africa. During the course of his adventures, he and his Zulu companion Otter save a young woman and her nursemaid from slavery and eventually sets out to find the legendary people of the mist, who are said to possess a fabulous hoard of jewels.

Songs known to have been interpolated into the 1894 version were 'I Won't Play in Your Yard', 'All in a Row', 'What Will You Do in the Winter', 'I Love My Love, Boo Boo', 'One More Drink, Then Bye-Bye', 'I Do Love You', 'She's the New Woman on the Bicycle', 'Girl Wanted', 'Ah Henrietta, Don't Scratch the Paint', 'Mr Lord Knows Who', 'Hard Times', 'Love Sweet Love', and 'The Fellow that Played the Drum.' Advertising in the days leading up to the Brisbane premiere also states that the production would introduce 'solos, duets, trios, quartettes, violin and harp obligatos [and] quaint and varied jubilee melodies as sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers' (Brisbane Courier 21 December 1895, p.2).

A review of the 1898 Fremantle production published in the West Australian indicates that this revival contained a large number of localisms and topicalities, and that the harlequinade had been written by a local (28 December 1898, n. pag.). Speed had previously been in partnership with Martyn Hagan for a season at Fremantle, but this had dissolved sometime during the week 3-10 December. The Miller and the Sweep therefore marked the first major production under Speed's solo management.