Following the retirement of Henry Harwood and Richard Stewart in October 1877, George Coppin and John Hennings joined forces with comedian/actor John R. Greville to run Melbourne's Theatre Royal. As with the Harwood, Stewart, Hennings and Coppin partnership the new firm staged dramatic seasons lead by both international and local stars such as George Darrell and Coppin himself. They also produced a number of large-scale pantomimes and burlesques, including a Sydney season of Greville and Emmett's Jack the Giant Killer (1880). The partnership ended in late June 1882 when their lease of the Theatre Royal expired.