AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Melodrama.
'Harold Armytage and Bess Marks elope. Harold's father is rich but after the elopement disowns him. Clifford Armytage, Harold's scheming cousin, and Seth Preene, a friend of Harold's father, frame innocent Harold for a crime so that Clifford will inherit the father's money instead of Harold. Seth aids Clifford because he hopes that his daughter, Hetty (who declares "I hate poor people"), would then marry Clifford and become rich. Harold is convicted and sentenced to gaol but escapes and is helped by an elderly couple to find Bess again. Meanwhile, Seth visits Hetty in London. She has become Clifford's mistress. After Harold rescues Seth from drowning, Seth decides to confess his crime so Harold will receive his inheritance and Clifford will get the punishment he deserves' (Wikipedia).
Adaptations
-
A Plucky Youth; Or, The Lites O' Sydney
Hiscocks' Federal Minstrels
,
F. E. Hiscocks
,
1883
single work
musical theatre
burlesque
humour
Described as a 'new minstrel burlesque sensational play,' A Plucky Youth satirises several Drury Lane sensational dramas - G.R. Sims's Lights O' London, (1881), and two Augustus Harris works, Youth (1881 with P. J. Meritt and H. Pettit) and Pluck (1882 with H. Pettit). Pluck was then being staged by Bland Holt at Sydney's Theatre Royal under the auspices of Williamson Garner and Musgrove. It also starred Alfred Dampier), while George Rignold had been presenting Youth in Australia since January 1882. Horace Bent's burlesque is presented in a series of seven tableaux:
1. The Mud-Banker's Manor;
2. Unknown;
3. Streets O' Sydney;
4. As Before;
5. Railway Disaster;
6. Once More; and
7. Wrecked in the Ocean.
The characters are Harold Vermifuge (the Visitor's Youth), Moses Aaron Levis Marks (a Financier), Griffin Greatmouth (Typical Villain), Stephen Stokes (the manager of a Mud-bank), Flo Stokes (his daughter), Mrs Stokes (his wife), The Major, The Colonel, and a Policeman.
Notes
-
The original London production ran for 226 nights, and was frequently revived. It premiered in the USA in 1881 and was revived twice on Broadway. The play has also been adapted into two silent films (both titled Lights of London) - the first in 1914 (directed by Bert Haldane) and the second in 1923 (directed by Charles Calvert).
Production Details
-
First produced at the Princess's Theatre, London on in London on 10 September 1881 (produced by and starring Wilson Barrett).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Before the Curtain
1885
single work
review
— Appears in: Table Talk , 30 October 1885; (p. 13)
— Review of The Lights o' London 1881 single work drama
-
Before the Curtain
1885
single work
review
— Appears in: Table Talk , 30 October 1885; (p. 13)
— Review of The Lights o' London 1881 single work drama
