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WSG to Pall Mall Gazette, Dec. 22, 1886, p. 3.
THE SAVOY CONSPIRATORS.
To the EDITOR of the PALL MALL GAZETTE.
Sir, – You are pleased to make merry with what is supposed to be an exaggerated anxiety on the part of Sir A. Sullivan and myself lest the details of the opera now in rehearsal at the Savoy should become prematurely known to the public. So little has this consideration troubled us that we invited to the reading of the piece, which took place three weeks before the first stage rehearsal, no fewer than forty-four ladies and gentlemen of the chorus, who are in no way concerned with the dialogue, besides a dozen personal friends. We have declined to accede to several requests which have been made to us to allow the details of the plot of the piece to be published in newspapers; and in acting thus we believe we have taken no unusual course. It is not customary for dramatic authors in this or any other country to publish their plots eight weeks before the production of their pieces. You say that so great is the fear of piracy that even the actors themselves do not know the name of the play, nor the characters they are severally engaged to represent. The name of the play is at present unknown to myself, and I shall be much obliged to anyone who will tell it to me. But the cast is as follows:–
| ROBIN OAKAPPLE | Mr. G. Grossmith. |
| RICHARD (his foster brother) | Mr. Durward Lely. |
| SIR DESPARD | Mr. Barrington. |
| SIR RODERIC | Mr. Temple. |
| OLD ADAM | Mr. Rudolph Lewis. |
| ROSE MAYBUD | Miss Leonora Braham. |
| MAD MARGARET | Miss Jessie Bond. |
| ZORAH | Miss Findlay. |
| Act. I. – A Seaport Village. | Act 2. – A Baronial Hall. |
Date, 1810.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
W.S. GILBERT.
December 20.
Page modified 9 May 2013