| Title: | Harlequin £.s.d |
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| Description: | Scene from Harlequin £.s.d, at the Surrey Theatre. |
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| Theatre: | Surrey |
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| Source: | The Illustrated London News, Dec 28, 1844, p. 409 |
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| See Source: | Go to Source Images (8.8 MB) |
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| Review: | The Illustrated London News, Dec 28, 1844, p. 410 |
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SURREY.
This house opened with, as the bill says, a piece founded on Shakspeare's [sic] "Seven Ages
of Man, or the End of Crime;" and, as far as we were able to judge from the usual confusion
of a Boxing night, was tolerably successful: and the great feature of the evening, the
pantomime, from the pen of the indefatigable Nelson Lee, who has christened it "£.s.d"
is very good, and will, no doubt, be as remunerating to the lessee as the one of last year.
It commences with the tomb of Queen Anne, in the land of mist. The sprite,
Counterfeit, is taking his rest in quiet, when hearing that there is a dreadful commotion
on earth with Lawful Coin, he is anxious for his liberty, and Queen Anne, who
suddenly makes her appearance,
banishes him from the place. On the clouds dispersing, the interior of an "Enchanted
Copper Mine" is discovered. Queen Anne and King Fourpenny are delighted
to meet each other, and hold a consultation as to the best means of increasing prosperity on the land by
aid of Harmless Mirth. A Penny is the coin that is sent with a mission, in
order that he may, by his industry, become A Pound. The Sprites, under the
superintendence of their superiors, soon coin a charmed penny--"a perfect beauty." The Save-all is opened,
which is found to contain four farthings. A bright penny piece appears; Queen Anne
takes charge of him, in order to convey him to earth through Fairy Land, to gain the aid of Commerce. We next journey to
the exterior of the Golden Palace of King Sovereign. The Princess Five
Shillings, heiress to the Crown, is now introduced. The Golden Monarch returns
with his captives; he is welcomed by his Queen Half Sovereign, and, on preparing
for the Royal banquet, the scene is changed
for the Land of Plenty. Commerce is joined by Wealth, a mustering of the
Fairy Court takes place, and a festive ballet succeeds. Queen Anne's cavalcade
arrives in Fairy Land, where the Penny is changed to silver and goes to seek his
fortune. He falls in love with
Princess Five Shillings, and offers her his hand, being aided by Commerce.
The offer is accepted, and they seek her parents' consent, which leads them to the Golden
Palace on the coast of Guinea. Two
Half-crowns are in readiness to receive his Majesty, who arrives with his
Queen. The loss of The Princess is suddenly discovered, but she at
last comes forward, hand-in-hand, with Penny-piece. Royalty looks upon it
as a disgrace, and The Queen is fearful of a race of Farthings
inhabiting the land. The King orders the Penny to be boiled alive,
which catastrophe is prevented by the interposition of the Fairy Queen, who changes
Silver Penny into Harlequin, the Princess Five Shillings into Columbine,
the Queen Half Sovereign into Pantaloon, and the Golden
Monarch into Clown. The hits are happy--Walker's Needles and Moses' Clothes Mart,
the Surrey Gardens, &c., are among the changes.
Mr. W. H. Harvey, as Harlequin, Mr. T. Ridgway, as Clown, Mr. H. Corri, as
Pantaloon, Miss Slaiter, as Columbine, sustained their parts admirably.
Herr Von Joel considerably added to the evening's amusement, by giving his extraordinary
Imitations of Beasts, Birds, &c. The house was literally crammed.
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