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This version of the popular pantomime is said to have made a recognisable departure from the usual productions, by introducing the harlequinade (titled 'The Terrible Day') at the beginning, thus increasing its importance, and thereby decreasing the significance of the pantomime portion of the story somewhat.
The production was also described as having taken the typical localisations and topical allusions a step further by infusing the story with an added political motive. 'Interwoven with the nursery story of Dick Whittington,' writes the Sydney Morning Herald critic, is 'a serious satire upon the trend of the federation movement in Australia... in the first scene we find two cooks under the names of Hobson and Jobson very cleverly - in make-up at least - personifying no less personages than Mr Reid and Sir George Turner, and busily employed in preparing a federation stew, a device which enables the author to cleverly introduce some of the burning questions of the day' (28 December 1897, p.4).
[Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive]
Production Details
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1897: Lyceum Theatre, Sydney; 27 December 1897 - 19 January 1898
- Director Alfred Woods; Producer MacMahon Bros; Music Director Frank Eugarde.
- Cast incl. Fanny Liddiard (Dick), Harry Shine (Dame Durden), Celia Mavis (Alice), Harry Overton (Alderman Fitzwarren), J. Driscoll Foley (Hobson), E. Grattan Coughlan (Jobson), Olive D'Elroy (Katids), Daisy Chard (Bobelink), Georgie Smithson (King Canabicus), Edith Barrow (Boatswain), Lullie Roberts (Fairy Queen), Marian Lockhart (Captain of the Lively Polly), Noney Seabrook (Fanny), Julie Woodville (Herald), Lily Everett (Eleanor), Annie Sinclair (Matilda), Gertie Fraser (Young Australia), Gus Franks (The Cat), Herbert Rowley (Father Christmas), J. A. Norbert (John Duden), Percy Stewart (Lord Chancellor), Cecilia Terry (Midgut), Martin Forde (The King), General Mite (Little Boy at Manly), Fannie Evelyn, Violet Melrose, Miss Thornton, Madge Hope, Nina Rochester, Ethel Hunt, Miss Bentley, Charles Blake, Frank Crossley.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Lyceum Theatre - 'Dick Whittington'
1897
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 28 December 1897; (p. 4)
— Review of Dick Whittington Up-to-Date 1897 single work musical theatre
-
Lyceum Theatre - 'Dick Whittington'
1897
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 28 December 1897; (p. 4)
— Review of Dick Whittington Up-to-Date 1897 single work musical theatre
