Perhaps best described as a 'burletta', this two-act theatrical adaptation of Pierce Egan's picaresque novel of 'fast' city living, Tom and Jerry: Life in London; or, The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq. and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom in their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis (1820-1821) was one of many staged in England and Australia during the 1800s.
The plot in this version begins with the arrival of Jerry Webber in the colony. Upon being made a member of the Ran Dan Club, he is taken under the wing of Tom King and Bob Logic. The three make their way from Macquarie Place (where Tom wins a £50 bet) to the Shakespeare Tavern. They join a fight between the 'Cabbage Tree Mob' and the police, go to a ball, visit an auction mart, and later find themselves at The Rocks, where one can 'see life as low as ever you did in St Giles in London' (qtd Leslie Rees, The Making of Australian Drama, p.61). Three young women who are keen on the Ran Danners disguise themselves as sailors in order to follow them, which leads to a sing-a-long. The police cut this short, another fight ensues, and the men escape. They talk next of going to the theatre, at which point Logic says to Jerry, 'my dear fellow, the Victoria is really a tolerable good theatre, superior to many in London... some of our native talent, and of those who never saw a theatre but a Sydney one, may vie with those who have been born as 'twere upon the stage' (qtd Rees, p.61). The final scene, set in a court house at Woolloomooloo, sees the three women 'bagging' their men. It ends with a jolly chorus.
