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[Untitled] Daily Telegraph, no. 15,284, April 27, 1904, p. 11
TO THE EDITOR OF “THE DAILY TELEGRAPH.”
SIR – Gags are sometimes unavoidable. Many years ago I was at the Theatre Royal, Leicester, during a performance of “Kathleen Mavourneen.” This is a “dream piece,” that is to say, the heroine goes to sleep in the first scene of Act I, and awakes in the last scene of Act 4, and everything that has taken place during the interval is supposed to be a representation of her dream. The “front scene,” which precedes the bed-room scene in which Kathleen awakes, represents the corridor of a prison. Kathleen’s lover, who is supposed to have been condemned to death as having taken part in the Irish Rebellion, is led across the stage to execution by an officer and four soldiers, and his exit on this melancholy errand is the cue for the change of scene. But on this occasion there was some unexpected hitch in “setting” the bedroom, and the officer, who had left the stage to lead the young rebel to his doom, at once returned, evidently with instructions to go on “gagging” until the scene was ready. This took some time, perhaps three or four minutes, during which the gallant officer delivered himself of various impromptu, but extremely loyal remarks on the subject of rebellion generally, and the Irish Rebellion in particular—which he described as “quite too awful.” Eventually, after receiving a hint from the wing that the bed-room scene was ready, he concluded his remarks with, “Yes, yes, rebellion is indeed a fearsome thing, and it is meet that he who takes part in it should suffer death to the very fullest extent!” - Your obedient servant,
W.S. GILBERT
Harrow Weald, April 26.
Page modified 7 August 2018