Engaged, W.S. Gilbert's most popular stage work after the comic operas he produced in collaboration with Arthur Sullivan, is a farcical comedy that has long lived in the literary shadows – although wildly neglected today, the play influenced literary names as great as George Bernard Shaw, and directly inspired Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.Centring on a rich young man's search for a wife and his uncle and best friend's attempts to hinder him, the play to...

'Take care. The consequences of an act are often much more numerous and important than people have any idea of.'Today W.S. Gilbert is best known for the comic operas he produced in collaboration with Arthur Sullivan, a creative partnership that diverged over the supernatural. Unlike Sullivan, Gilbert was a great fan of fairy tales, and Foggerty's Fairy, one of his most unjustly neglected plays, is a brilliant farcical comedy that hinges on the wish-granting of a f...

Before Gilbert was part of the famous Gilbert & Sullivan opera team, he wrote light verse that was very odd but arrived at a logical conclusion...we think! Luckily, the joyous Stanley Holloway is on hand to read and make sense of it all.

The theme of this Megapack is classic mystery and crime fiction from the Victorian era. We have taken the liberty of extending the qualifying publication dates to the end of World War I, since that event marked more of a turning point in world literature than the advent of the Edwardian Age. Certainly the spirit of Victorian crime fiction continued beyond Queen Victoria. This volume contains 25 stories and 2 bonus novels, offering hours of reading pleasure.THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIE...

W.S. Gilbert'Äôs 'Utopia, Limited' is a satirical examination of societal norms and governance, cleverly interlaced with musical whimsy characteristic of the Victorian operatic style. This comic operetta, first performed in 1893, is notable for its sharp critique of colonialism and the absurdities of utopian governance. Through a series of humorous and absurd scenarios, Gilbert explores themes of freedom, morality, and the often incongruent aspirations of society versus its realities, all ...

W.S. Gilbert's "The Grand Duke" is a satirical comic opera that unfolds in the fictional Duchy of Pfennig Halbpfennig. With its characteristic wit, Gilbert employs intricate wordplay and clever rhymes that critique the absurdities of authority and social structures. The narrative centers around themes of love, betrayal, and the absurdities of governance, featuring a cast of eccentric characters embroiled in a farcical plot that includes a conspiratorial scheme to usurp the throne. Gilbert'...

Frederick is freed of his indentures to the ferociously temperate Pirates of Penzance. What will he do with his newfound freedom?This audiobook is based on the libretto from W. S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame. It includes all the original material in the libretto, adapted to make the tale a narrative, rather than an operetta.It’s a rare opportunity to celebrate the sharp wit of Gilbert’s writing, as it is brought to the fore.

From long-haired 'Fleshly Poets' to intense, 'ultra pre-Raphaelite' artists, few stylistic movements in the history of art and literature have provoked the imagination and indignation of British playwrights as much as the Aesthetic Movement.During an intense and short-lived period from 1877 to 1881, the London stage saw fierce competition as playwrights and theatre managers raced to capture the zeitgeist, capitalizing on the unorthodox, eccentric and highly theatri...

In The Progress of Fun W.S. Gilbert was considered, not as a ‘classic Victorian’, but as part of an on-going comedic continuum stretching from Aristophanes to Joe Orton and beyond. Pipes and Tabors continues the story, covering the comedic experience differently by reference to genres. Here – treated in relation to a line of significant others – we discover how Gilbert responded to areas such as the Pastoral, the Irish drama, nautical scenarios, melodrama, sensation-theatre, the nonsensemo...

To what extent is a great comic writer the product of his time? How far is he (or she) influenced by factors of personal psychology upbringing and environment? To what is the writing actually part of a long continuum in which there is continuity within change and change within continuity? The Progress of Fun considers principally the last of these areas, focussing on the case of W.S. Gilbert and challenging the frequently held view that he is pre-eminently a typical Victorian. Thi...

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic fiction read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.A collection of the funny, curious verse written during the 19th and 20th centuries, read by some of Britain's most renowned actors.Humorous and whimsical verse ...