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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Presented in four acts, Boozed loosely follows the narrative action of Drink. A synopsis, included in advertising shows, for example:
- Act 1. The Washhouse - The Desperate Fight;
- Act 2. The Café - Have A Water Melon;
- Act 3. The Desolate Home - Gee-A-Way And The Twins - Cop Out;
- Act 4. The Scaffold - The Fall - The Dummy Disabled - Retribution
[Source: Age 25 February 1888, p.14]
Notes
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Boozed was one of two burlesques to be staged in Melbourne during the week of 25 February to 2 March that sent up the Williamson, Garner and Musgrove production Drink then playing at the Theatre Royal (the other burlesque being the Cogill brothers' Drunk).
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Advertised as 'the best sermon against the evils of drunkenness ever preached in pulpit, from platform or upon the stage,' Drink was itself an adaptation by the late Charles Reade from Zola's L'Assommoir, first staged at the Princess Theatre, London, in 1879 (Age 25 February 1888, p.14). The Theatre Royal season had begun on 18 February with Charles Warner in the lead role of Jean Coupeau, and supported by the Royal Dramatic Company. It is not surprising that the play was such a popular vehicle for burlesque, when one considers the way it was described in advertising. 'All the shades of alcoholic insanity are represented with quiet but awe-inspiring intensity, and throughout the sixth act the audience seem scarcely to breathe, so absorbed and terrified are they by that one trembling, ragged figure struggling with his fatal cravings and warring with the imaginary devils with which his unhinged reason peoples the air' (Age 25 February 1888, p.14).
Production Details
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1888: Victoria Hall, Melbourne; 25 February - 2 March.
- Director/Stage Manager George Gardiner; Producer/Lessee Frank M. Clark; Music Director Herr Deidrichsen; Manager Harold Ashton.
- Troupe: Frank M. Clark's Silk Stockings Company.
- Cast incl. Johnny Gilmore (Cop-out, a workman), Will Whitburn (Gee-a-way, his neglected wife), George Gardiner (Richmond), Amy Rowe (Mde. Paintunpowder, the Washhouse keeper), Miss Macdonald, Miss Burke, Miss Jennings (Washerwomen).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
PeriodicalNewspaper Details
Note:
This entry has been sourced from research undertaken by Dr Clay Djubal into Australian-written popular music theatre (ca. 1850-1930). See also the Australian Variety Theatre Archive
Last amended 24 Aug 2017 16:32:05
