[
    {
        "id": 211775,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 190,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "165\n\nunanimous voice of the Community in wishing that the Corps would again favour us with their highly agreeable representations”.30\n\n―\n\nA new venture in local companies was started in 1864 when, after the troubles of the Taiping rebellion, the Shanghai Volunteer Corps which had taken part in the defence of the Settlement apparently had enough superfluous energy to direct their efforts into more peaceful ventures. On March 30, 1864, Kenney's Raising the Wind, Jerrold's Cool as a Cucumber and Coyne's Duck Hunting were the three pieces given.\n\nSeveral more performances followed in 1864 (April 25, May 26) and 1865 (March 21, May 8, December 14). Not to be outdone by their colleagues, the Mounted Rangers, part of the S.V.C. and formed in 1862, decided to put on theatricals too. May 24, 1865 saw their first moves on the stage with Planché's The Knights of the Round Table and Mayhew's The Wandering Minstrel.3\n\n31\n\nLater performances were given on November 11 and 20, 1865, and January 12 and March 28, 1866. It was these two groups that in 1866 resolved on the foundation of the Amateur Dramatic Corps.\n\nAnother local company saw the light in June 1864: The Amateur Burlesque Company Ltd. Whether they were not satisfied with the existing conditions of the theatre in Shanghai or whether the demand for Thespian evenings was so great cannot be ascertained; in any case it was announced that **although the theatrical season has closed, the approach of the hot weather warning us against crowded assemblies, a number of gentlemen have formed themselves into a burlesque company**. But the heat was no deterrent and on June 28, 1864 Lacy's The Silent Woman and H.J. Byron's Ill Treated Il Trovatore came off with considerable success, so much so that \"many of the audience were disposed to believe that they were witnessing a display of professional talent\". The society proved not to be a one-day affair, for it gave a number of other representations in 1864 and 1865.\n\nThe actors in it probably consisted mainly of British and Americans; of another company that was also established in 1864 it may safely be assumed that only compatriots were members, viz. the Portuguese amateur dramatic club. Although the Portuguese population of Shanghai was small (the census of 1865 showed a total of 110, including 14 women and 15 children) this was apparently no hindrance to the staging of plays",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
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    },
    {
        "id": 211797,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 212,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "187\n\nless than sixteen of his farces were staged during the years 1850-1865, including of course the maligned Box and Cox which is, ironically, nearly his only piece that is still occasionally seen today. Closely following were the burlesques of Henry James Byron, written in quite a different style from Morton's farces, with many more puns in the text which makes them sometimes awkward reading, although one can feel amazement about the author's inventiveness. Yet, to see well-established works like Verdi's Il Trovatore, with its beautiful music, mangled into !!! Treated Il Trovatore, or Shakespeare's Macbeth and King John into The Babes in the Wood makes one feel a little bit queasy. Of especial interest to the Shanghai residents must have been his Aladdin or the Wonderful Scamp for he had built the entire action **around puns on China tea and he invented widow Twankay as a pun on one of the ports central to the China trade\" [Shanghai presumably — JHJ]. Byron was of course not \n\nthe only one who made himself into a debaser of tragedy. What is one to think of Robert Bough's Medea or the Best of Mothers with a Brute of a Husband, the title alone of which causes one to shudder.\n\nBut then, this was obviously what an overwhelming majority of the public asked for, both in Britain and overseas. The British capital teemed with small, and not so small, theatres that catered for the wishes of the low and lower middle classes and their first demand was to be entertained after a hard day's work: who cared for a complex five-act Shakespearean tragedy people referred to laugh their heads off with Slasher and Crasher and Cool as a Cucumber.\n\nIn British outposts abroad the attitude of the public was not very different, as is shown in this article for Shanghai. A comparison with Singapore and Hong Kong shows that tastes there were also exclusively in the direction of farce and comedy and it is not to be wondered that sometimes the same pieces were chosen, like William Rhodes' Bombastes Furioso (Sh.: 28.1.1851 and 5.5.1858; Hong Kong: 1.12.1848; Singapore: May 1844 and 25.5.1846) and Tom Taylor's Still Waters Run Deep (Sh.: 23.4.1857; 15.3.1860; H.K.: 3.1.1861; Sp.: 1862).\n\nThat not all plays were to the liking of the local paper's critics has already been discussed. Apparently, no efforts were made from among the foreign community to write original comedies, a fact which was deplored by the Herald when it thought that there are certainly men capable of such mental exercise as the writing of burlesque.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
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    },
    {
        "id": 211830,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 245,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "220\n\nR: In the advertisement it was stated that tickets could be obtained from Messrs Lane, Crawford & Co, G.A. Bretts' Auction Room and Astor House Hotel. Lane, Crawford was a general store that had been established in Kiangsi Road (ex Church Street) since June 1862. The Astor House Hotel was situated in Hongkew (see also Survey).\n\n17.6.1864 (Fri)\n\nPerformance by Messrs J.R. Black and Marquis Chisholm (piano)\n\nTH: N.N. (H)\n\nN: Benefit for Mr. Chisholm\n\nR: John Reddie BLACK (1827-1880) was born in Scotland, but went to Australia to earn a living as a singer in the goldfields. After arriving in Japan, 1861, he became the editor of some English newspapers and from 1876-1880 he edited several papers in Shanghai. In 1864 he still managed to combine his two vocations. His entertainment was \"composed of songs interspersed with anecdotes and conversation of the most lively description which he varied every evening. He has a splendid voice and sings with great taste and feeling\" (NCH 4.6.1864). His accompanist on the piano was Mr. L.C. PHILIPPS (cf. 1.4.1864), but the latter died of cholera and his place was taken by Mr. Marquis CHISHOLM who was no newcomer to the Shanghai public. On June 17 he played a fantasia on Japanese airs, composed by himself. As a matter of coincidence there was \"an absence of ladies, many of whom are at present rusticating in Japan\", but for the other evenings \"the audience has always comprised the majority of the ladies resident in the Settlement\". Evidently this had come to be considered as most desirable, perhaps to lend an air of respectability to the performance. (NCH 11, 18.6.1864).\n\n22.6.1864 (Wedn)\n\nH.J. BYRON: \"Il Treated Il Trovatore\" (1863)\n\nT: Burlesque extravaganza (1 act)\n\nC: Shanghai Amateur Burlesque Company\n\nF: Music by the Rhenish Band\n\nTh: Olympic Theatre (H)\n\n+\n\nR: The first night of a new company, the \"*Shanghai Amateur Burlesque Company\" and, if we may believe the Herald, the Shanghai world \"was completely taken by surprise. So minute an acquaintance with stage proprieties was shown that many of the audience were disposed to believe that they were witnessing a display of professional talent”. (NCH 25.6.1864).\n\n29.6.1864 (Wedn)\n\nH.J. BYRON: \"Ill Treated 11 Trovators\" (1863)\n\nT: Burlesque extravaganza (1 act)\n\nT.H. LACY: \"A Silent Woman\" (1835)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Shanghai Amateur Burlesque Company\n\nF: \"New burlesque music\" by the Rhenish Band\n\nTh: Olympic Theatre (H)\n\nR: This is one of those increasing occasions in which only a short summary was published in the Herald, while the full report had appeared in the North China Daily News, no longer extant for this year. In any case the hope was expressed that more would be seen of the company \"as soon as the cool weather sets in\" (NCH 2.7.1864). According to the advertisement, tickets were obtainable from Lane, Crawford & Co (see 13.6.1864), Hall & Holtz (Ship chandler, general store and bakers; at the corner of Foochow Road (ex Mission Road) and Kiangsi Road (ex Bridge Street); MacKenzie & Co (shipchandlers, general store and general agents on the Yangkingpang in the French Concession); the Astor House Hotel; and Phillips Restaurant (Phillips, Moore & Co, Nanking Road-ex...)",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
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    },
    {
        "id": 211846,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 261,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "236\n\nP: 12.11.-18.11.1864\n\n\"No | Round the Corner\" (12.3.1854). P: 23.1.1856\n\n**Perdita the Royal Milkmaid or The Winter's Tale** (15.9.1856). P: 8.4.1865\n\nBUCKINGHAM, Leicester Silk (1825-1867)\n\n\"Take That Girl Away (5.3.1855). P: 15.2.1860; 3.12.1864\n\nBUCKSTONE, John Baldwin (1802-1879)\n\n**A Dead Shot** (22.1.1827). P: 11.4.1865\n\n\"The Flowers of the Forest. A gipsy story\" (11.3.1847), P 28.3.-5.4.1865 \"Isabella or Woman's Life\" (27.1.1834). P: 28.3-5.4.1865\n\n\"A Kiss in the Dark\" (13.6.1840). P: 26.3.1857\n\n\"A Lesson for the Ladies\" (5.9.1838), P: 8.4.1865 \"Married Life\" (20.8.1834). P: 12.11-18.11.1864 \"A Rough Diamond\" (8.11.1847). P: 13.4.1865\n\nBUTLER, Richard (1794-1858)\n\n**The Irish Tutor** (12.7.1822). P: 5.5.1853\n\nBYRON, Henry James (1834-1884)\n\n**Aladdin or the Wonderful Scamp** (1.4.1861), P: 2-.9.1864; 19.11.1864; 26.11.1864; 29.4.1865\n\n\"The Babes in the Wood! and the Good Little Fairy Birds!\" (18.7.1859), P: 17.4.1865\n\n**The Bride of Abydos or the Prince, the Pirate and the Pearl** (31.5.1858). P: 22.10-28.10.1864; 13.4.1865\n\n\"Cinderella or the Lover, the Lacky and the Little Glass Slippers\" (26.12.1860). P: 12.11.-18.11.1864\n\n\"Fra Diavolo! or the Beauty and the Brigands\" (5.4.1858). P: 15.10-21.10.1864\n\n**The 'Green' Bushes or Missis Brown of the \"Mississippi\"** (26.12.1864), P: 30.9.1865\n\n**Ill Treated Il Trovatore or the Mother, the Maiden and the Musician** (21.5.1863). P: 22.6.1864; 29.6.1864\n\n**The Maid and the Magpie or the Fatal Spoon** (11.10.1858). P: 8.10-14.10.1864; 15.10-21.10.1864; 15.4.1865\n\n\"Princess Springtime or The Envoy who stole the King's Daughter\" (26.12.1864). P: 10.11.1865; 20.11.1865\n\nCAREY, Henry (1687?-1743)\n\n\"The Dragon of Wantley\" (1737; music by John Frederick Lampe). P: 26.1.1852\n\n\"A Wonder or an Honest Yorkshireman\" (1735). P: 12.11.-18.11.1864\n\nCENTLIVRE, Susannah (1667?-1723)\n\n\"The Wonder. A Woman Keeps A Secret\" (April 1714). P: 12.11.-18.11.1864\n\nCHELTNAM, Charles Smith (1823-?)\n\n\"Aurora Floyd or the Deed in the Wood\" (11.3.1863), P: 26.11.1864; 17.4.1865\n\n\"A Lucky Escape\" (9.9.1861). P: 25.4.1864\n\nCOLMAN, George, the younger (1762-1836)\n\n\"The Heir at Law\" (15.7.1797). P: 21.4.1851\n\n**Love Laughs at Locksmiths** (25.7.1803). P: 9.5.1864\n\n**The Review or The Wags of Windsor** (2.9.1800), P: 24.3.1852\n\nCOURTNEY, John (1813-1865)\n\n**Time Tries All** (4.9.1848). P: 5.5.1860; 21.3.1865",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
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]