Black-Eyed Susan
Black-Eyed Susan; or, All in the Downs is a comic play in three acts by
British Navy. Aspects of the story were later parodied in H.M.S. Pinafore (1878).[1]
The play was Jerrold's first big success, premiering on 8 June 1829 at the
Covent Garden Theatre for part of the original run, and soon after it closed at the Surrey, it was revived at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, for a total run of over 300 nights, which was extraordinarily successful for the time.[4] After this, it was frequently revived.[5]
The play was revived at the
Alhambra Theatre.[8]
Characters
- Doggrass, a wealthy publican
- Gnatbrain, a gardener and waterman
- Tom Hatchet, a smuggler who covets Susan
- Jacob Twig, a ploughboy turned bailiff
- Susan, married to William and niece to Doggrass
- Dolly Mayflower, a spinner in love with Gnatbrain
- William, a sailor married to Susan
- Blue Peter, a sailor
- Ploughshare, a farm labourer
- Lieutenant Pike, of William's ship
- Captain Robert Crosstree, of William’s ship
- The Admiral, in charge of the court martial
- Master at Arms
- Country girls and sailors
References
- ^ Walbrook, H. M. (1922). "Chapter V: The Adventures of H.M.S. Pinafore". Gilbert & Sullivan Opera, A History and a Comment. London: F. V. White & Co. Ltd.
- London Evening Standard, 9 June 1829, p. 1
- OCLC 10013159. pp. 1196–1197
- ^ "Douglas Jerrold, T. P. Cooke, and Black-Eyed Susan", The New York Times, 29 November 1885, p. 11.
- ^ Melville, Lewis and Lewis Saul Benjamin. Victorian Novelists, p. 59, London, A. Constable and Company, limited, 1906.
- ^ Theatre programme, Warehouse Theatre, Croydon, December 1986.
- ^ Black-Eyed Susan 1914 film.
- The Athenaeum: A Journal, 16 August 1884, p. 220.