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''Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren; or, Fortunatus and the Water of Life, the Three Bears, the Three Gifts, the Three Wishes, and the Little Man who Woo'd the Little Maid''〔W. R. Osman had written a pantomime called "Harlequin Cock Robin and the Children in the Wood" in 1866. See Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of English Drama'', 1660–1900, Volume 6, p. 206, Cambridge University Press, 2009 ISBN 0-521-10933-7〕 was a pantomime written by W. S. Gilbert. As with many pantomimes of the Victorian era, the piece consisted of a story involving evil spirits, young lovers and "transformation" scenes, followed by a harlequinade. The piece premiered at the Lyceum Theatre, London on 26 December 1867. It was the only pantomime written by Gilbert alone, although before and afterwards he collaborated with other authors on pantomimes for the London stage. It was written early in his career, when he was not yet an established playwright, and the script was regarded as of less importance than the spectacle. The first night was under-rehearsed, and the spectacular effects and scenery failed to work properly. Later performances were satisfactory in that respect, and the piece received some good reviews. ==Background== Gilbert had always been fascinated by pantomime.〔Crowther, Andrew. "Clown and Harlequin", ''W. S. Gilbert Society Journal'', vol. 3, issue 23, Summer 2008, pp. 710–21〕 In 1865, he had written ''Pantomimic Presentiments'', one of his ''Bab Ballads'', satirising pantomime and complaining that "I'm beginning to get weary of dramatic desert dreary,/ And I ask myself a query, when will novelties begin?"〔(''Pantomimic Presentiments'' ), Bab Ballads, originally published in ''Fun'' magazine on 7 October 1865, reprinted at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 31 December 2010〕 Gilbert had collaborated on an earlier pantomime, ''Hush-a-Bye, Baby, on the Tree Top'', in 1866.〔Stedman, pp. 34–35〕 Immediately following his production of ''Harlequin Cock Robin'', Gilbert published an article called "Getting Up a Pantomime".〔Gilbert, W. S. "Getting Up a Pantomime", ''London Society'', January 1868, pp. 50–51; Crowther, pp. 716–17〕 His 1875 opera with Arthur Sullivan, ''Trial by Jury'', included a pantomime-style transformation scene (especially prominent in the 1884 version), and he collaborated on ''The Forty Thieves'', a pantomime written as a charity fund-raiser in 1878, in which he played Harlequin.〔Hollingshead, John. ''Good Old Gaiety: An Historiette & Remembrance'', pp. 39–41 (1903) London: Gaity Theatre Co〕 His last full-length play, ''The Fairy's Dilemma'' (1904), drew heavily on (and satirised) pantomimic conventions. But ''Harlequin Cock Robin'' was Gilbert's only solo essay in the genre of traditional pantomime.〔Stedman, ''passim''〕 In the West End, during the mid-19th century, pantomimes traditionally opened at the major theatres on 26 December, known in England as Boxing Day, intended to play for only a few weeks into the new year. Gilbert's pantomime opened on the same night as rival shows at the Drury Lane Theatre, Covent Garden, Sadler's Wells, and eight other London theatres. Less well-established pantomime venues opened on Christmas Eve to give themselves an edge over the competition; seven such shows opened on 24 December 1867.〔"The Christmas Burlesques and Pantomimes", ''The Era Almanack, 1868'', p. 60〕 The writers of the rival shows included established authors such as Mark Lemon, Gilbert à Beckett, C. H. Hazlewood and E. L. Blanchard.〔 Gilbert's piece ran until the end of February 1868, being given about 83 performances. So, notwithstanding Gilbert's statement about it in 1868, it gained average success for a Christmas pantomime.〔Moss, Simon. "Harlequin Cock-Robin and Jenny Wren", c20th.com, W. S. Gilbert archive, accessed 31 December 2010〕 At this early stage of his career as a playwright, Gilbert had only two substantial successes behind him – his burlesques, ''Dulcamara! or, The Little Duck and the Great Quack'' and ''La Vivandière; or, True to the Corps!''. Professionally, he was not yet in a position to control the casting or staging of his works. In 1884, he wrote a humorous article for the annual almanac published by ''The Era'' recalling the chaotic circumstances of the production of his pantomime.
Gilbert's article also mentions that he was paid £60 for ''Harlequin Cock Robin''. This was twice what he had been paid for the libretto of ''Dulcamara'' in 1866, but was still a modest sum for the time.〔W. S. Gilbert, "My Pantomime" , ''The Era Almanack, 1884'', pp. 77–79〕 The Gilbert scholar Jane Stedman notes that this production had "the questionable honour of introducing the cancan to the English stage."〔Stedman, p. 53〕 Men flocked to see what one paper called "the most gross and filthy exhibition that has ever disgraced our degenerate stage."〔Stedman, p. 54〕 Gilbert's early pantomimes, burlesques and farces, full of awful puns and broad humour, show signs of the satire that would later be a defining part of his work.〔(See ''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature'', Volume XIII, Chapter VIII, Section 15 (1907–21) ) and (Crowther, Andrew, ''The Life of W. S. Gilbert'' ).〕 These works gave way, after 1869, to plays containing original plots and fewer puns.〔Crowther, Andrew. (''The Life of W. S. Gilbert'' )〕 These included his "fairy comedies", such as ''The Palace of Truth'' (1870) and ''Pygmalion and Galatea'' (1871), and his German Reed Entertainments, which led to the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas.〔(Article by Andrew Crowther ).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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