[
    {
        "id": 209607,
        "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-1982",
        "page_number": 264,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "242\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\n1 Dec. 1852 - first performance of amateurs under new management.\n\n12 Feb. 1853 — Victoria Amateurs.\n\n\"Twice Killed\" farce (John Oxenham, 1837) \"Slasher and Crasher\" farce (J. M. Morton, 1848)\n\n19 Mar. 1853 meeting at Victoria Theatre for purpose of forming a Corps Dramatique to arrange for another performance at an early date.\n\n20 Apr. 1853 \"Animal Magnetism\" farce (Mrs. E. Inchbald, 1758)\n\n\"A Kiss in the Dark\" farce\n\n19 May 1853 last night of season of Victoria Amateurs.\n\n\"Time Tries All\" dramatic drama (J. Courtney, 1848) \"Toothache, or The Prince and the Chimney Sweep\" farce\n\n1853/54 27 Oct. 1853\n\nMeeting at Victoria Theatre of those interested in theatricals to make arrangements for the coming season. (I found no notice of any performance for this season).\n\n1860/61 3 Jan. 1861 \"Still Waters Run Deep\" (T. Taylor, 1855)\n\n1861/62\n\n1862/1863\n\n29 Jan. 1861 new theatre, Hong Kong Amateur Theatre, performance by officers and gentlemen who have organized this establishment:\n\n\"A Bachelor of Arts\" (P. Hardwicke, 1853) \"A Nice Firm\" (T. Taylor, 1853)\n\n25 Feb. 1861 performance of Gentlemen Amateurs Mon. last.\n\n28 Mar. 1861 theatrical season drawing to close. Appreciation to the Committee. Difficult to see how the Amateur Theatrical Company could have managed without aid from the garrison.\n\nDec. 1861 - first performance of season:\n\n\"Cool as a Cucumber\" (M. W. B. Jerrold, 1851) \"The State Secret\" (A. Snodgrass, 1821, or T. E. Wilks, 1836) in same commodious erection as served so well for last year's performances,\n\n23 Jan. 1862 second public performance of Hong Kong Amateur Theatre:\n\n\"Not a Bad Judge\" comic drama (J. R. Planche, 1848) \"The Critics\" facetious tragedy (Sheridan, 1779)\n\n1862 season\n\n\"Cramond Brig\" (W. H. Murray, 1826)\n\nDec. 1862 The theatre a reproduction of last year's design. \"Uncle Zachary\" comic drama (John Oxenford, 1860) \"Fearful Tragedy in Seven Dials\" (Charles Selby, 1857)",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p",
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    },
    {
        "id": 211810,
        "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": 225,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "200\n\nrash decision to marry the first that came\". Another actor who was to become a local Roscius. Mr. Phunago BRUSHWOOD, \"gave the somewhat unusual stage character of a double-faced farmer (Wurzel) all the selfish cunning and irritable tone which it needed\". Other parts were taken by Miss Polly DEXTER, Mr. HEAVISWELL, Mr. Jehoshaphat SNAKES and Mr. PLEADWELL (as the lawyer!).\n\nIn Box and Cox Messrs PROTEUS, BRUSHWOOD and Mrs. CLAY \"kept the audience in a roar\" (NCH 22.2.1857).\n\n3.3.1857 (Tue)\n\nDramatic readings from Charles Dickens by Mr. Benjamin SEARE. Th: C\n\n―\n\nR: In the Herald of February 28 it was announced that \"we are apprized by 'Circular' that an entertainment of a novel character in Shanghai, but one which has greatly attracted the fashionable and literary world elsewhere, will be given by Mr. Scare in the Hall of the Shanghai Theatre on Tuesday Evening next the 3rd prox. The subject - The Early Writings of Charles Dickens is a theme affording scope for great versatility of talent. (...) The Community are much indebted to Mr. Scare for his gratuitous offer of an evening's intellectual amusement to diversify and enliven the monotony of Shanghai life. The Circular notifies that the divertissement will commence at half past 8 & precisely, that no personal invitations will be issued and that a syllabus of the Lecture will be placed in each seat for the use and acceptance of its occupant”. Then, in the issue of March 7, a report was published: \"A large and select circle of residents had met in the New Theatre\". It became a kind of one man show by Mr. Seare, as the \"requirements of versatility and mimic power were most successfully supplied. (...) The lecturer was perfectly at home in each and all of the various characters as they turned up, passed from one to another with an ease that was admirable and portrayed each with a force of comic power which elicited much applause, and, to select the most appropriate compliment we can bestow, did justice to the author. All in all the audience was \"kept in a roar”. Mr. Seare concluded with some general remarks on the necessity of some recreation of this kind in a community so distant from home and so isolated and comprising at the same time so much intelligence and ability\" (NCH 7.3.1857). One wonders how Mr. Seare was able to give these lectures free of charge; had he been a touring artist that would of course have been impossible. But as it turns out he was a mercantile assistant in the employment of Gilman & Co (this according to the Shanghai Almanac for 1858). In May 1865 he gave another performance (see 27.5.1865). No further details are available about the programme, but no doubt the characters from The Pickwick Papers figured largely in it. Who, after all, can resist Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Jingle and Sam Weller? Dickens himself began readings from his own works one year later, in April 1858, in Britain and the United States.\n\n26.3.1857 (Thur)\n\nJ.B. BUCKSTONE: \"A Kiss in the Dark\" (1840)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nM.B.W. JERROLD: \"Cool as a Cucumber\" (1851)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nH. DANVERS: \"A Conjugal Lesson\" (1856)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nTh: N.N. (CH\n\nR: In a witty mind \"The Man on the Bund\" informed us that \"by way of introduction there was a kiss — and in the dark too! — perhaps the sweetest kiss of all, administered with enviable gusto by Mr. SNAKES as Fathom. Mrs. Pettibone submitted to it with less indignation than the fact of her being so much respected led us to suppose. But then, it was to punish the odiously jealous Mr. Pettibone who would insist on making\n\nPage 225\n\nPage 226",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 211827,
        "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": 242,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "217\n\n2.3.1864 (Wedn)\n\nPerformance by the amateurs of the Royal Artillery.\n\nNo plays are mentioned in the announcement (NCH 27.2.1864).\n\n4.3.1864 (Fri)\n\nPerformance by Mrs. Greig: \"dramatic reading and English ballad music” with the cooperation of Mr. Marquis Chisholm, piano, and the Rhenish Band.\n\nN.N. (H)\n\nR: This was an evening at which the Herald predicted that \"ladies may without impropriety be present\". Mrs. GREIG had had “a most successful career in India and the colonies\" and it was the first time she had come to Shanghai (NCH 27.2.1864).\n\n28.3.1864 (Mon)\n\nT. KORNER: \"The Governess\" (“Die Gouvernante')\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nA.F.F. Von KOTZEBUE: \"The Harvest at Home\"\n\nN.N.: Bullrick at Kroll\"\n\nC: Amateurs of His Prussian M.S. Gazelle\n\nTh: On board ship(?)\n\nN: It is not recorded in which language these pieces were played: titles and authors are those given by the Herald. Of Kotzebue's play I have not been able to find a German equivalent. HED, however, mentions some plays with the same title by British authors: Thomas Parry (1848) and Charles Dibdin (1787), as well as some by unknown playwrights.\n\nR: Perhaps in some fear, the Herald noted with a sigh of relief that \"the evening passed off without a single contretemps\" (NCH 2.4.1864). Curiously enough the only ship in port with the name \"Gazelle\" was a British merchantman which had arrived there from Hankow on the 22nd.\n\n30.3.1864 (Wedn)\n\nM.W.B. JERROLD: \"Cool as a Cucumber\" (1851)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nJ. KENNEY: \"Raising the Wind\" (1803)\n\nT: Farce (2 acts)\n\nJ.S. COYNER: \"Duck Hunting” (1862)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps\n\nF: Prologue, spoken by Commm. R.C. Antrobus\n\nTh: N.N. (H)\n\nN: First performance of the season\n\nR: After a brief period in which the actual names of resident-amateurs had been published, there was a reversion to the old practice of stage names, at least probably for most actors. A whole list was printed in the Herald (Messrs Talbot, De Jones, Robinson (were these latter two the same as those active in 1858?), Carnegie, Coke, Dolittle, Smith, Blister, Buttons, Bellingham and John; and Mesdemoiselles Olivia, Pipchin, Robinson and Sally), of whom only Mr. Talbot may have been genuine. As usual the female characters of the farces were played by men (\"prettier and more graceful amateur ladies than we have ever seen before\"), a generally horrid sight for the serious theatregoer. Not so for Shanghailanders for \"large numbers of residents who were desirous of obtaining admission were excluded for want of room” (NCH 2.4.1864). A detailed review had appeared in the Daily Shipping News of 31.3.1864, no longer available. Increasingly, instead of full reports, summaries from the daily edition were published until one has to resort entirely to the Daily News; of Survey).",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
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    },
    {
        "id": 211847,
        "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": 262,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "237\n\nCOYNE, Joseph Stirling (1803-1868)\n\n\"Binks the Bagman\" (13.12.1843). P: 8.10.1857\n\n\"Duck Hunting\" (29.9.1862). P: 30.3.1864; 4.4.1865\n\n\"The Infanticidal Farce or Did you ever Send your Wife to Camberwell?\" (16.3.1846). P: 21.2.1856\n\n**Urgent Private Affairs** (7.1.1856). P: 5.5.1858\n\nCROSS, John C (d 1810?)\n\nThe Golden Farmer or Harlequin Ploughboy (28.6.1802). P: 8.10.1857\n\nDANCE, Charles (1794-1863)\n\n**Delicate Ground or Paris in 1793** (27.11.1849). P: 13.2.1864\n\n\"The Dustman's Belle\" (1.6.1846). P: 9.2.1858\n\nDANVERS, Henry (??)\n\n**A Conjugal Lesson** (3.7.1856). P: 26.3.1857\n\nDIBDIN, Thomas John (1771-1841)\n\n**The Birthday** (16.3.1799). P: 9.2.1858\n\nDUMAS, Alexandre fils (1824-1895)\n\n\"Camille\" (English adaptation of 'La Dame aux Camélias') (1852; London: 1858). P: 27.3.1865\n\nEDWARDS, Henry Sutherland (1828-1906)\n\n**The Goose with the Golden Eggs** (with A. Mayhew) (1.9.1859). P: 13.2.1863\n\nFITZBALL, Edward (1792-1873)\n\n\"The Daughter of the Regiment\" (30.11.1843). P: 15.4.1865\n\nGILL, W.B.\n\n**Aurora Floyd Burlesqued**. P: 19.4.1865\n\n\"Which is Which?\". P: 27.3.1865\n\nGORE, Catherine Grace Frances (1799-1861)\n\n**A Good Night's Rest or Two in the Morning** (19.8.1839). P: 21.2.1856\n\nHALLIDAY, Andrew (1830-1877)\n\n\"The Area Belle\" (with W. Brough) (7.3.1864). P: 30.9.1865\n\nHARDWICKE, Pelham: See C. Mathews\n\nHARRIS, Augustus Glossop (1826-1873)\n\n\"The Rose of Castille\" (Music by M.W. BALFE) (29.10.1857). P: 8.10.-14.10.1864\n\nHAZLEWOOD, Colin Henry (1823-1875)\n\n? \"Aurora Floyd or the First and Second Marriage\" (21.4.1863). P: 26.11.1864; 17.4.1865\n\n? \"Lady Audley's Secret\" (25.6.1863). 142 P: 28.12.1864\n\n\"Rob Roy\" (19.6.1864). P: 28.3.-5.4.1865\n\nJERROLD, Douglas William (1803-1857)\n\n\"Black-eyed Susan or All in the Downs\" (8.6.1829). P: 28.3-5.4.1865\n\nJERROLD, M. William Blanchard (1826-1884)",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
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    {
        "id": 211851,
        "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": 266,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "241\n\nAurora Floyd Burlesqued: W.B. Gill; 19.4.1865.\n\nThe Babes in the Wood: J.H. Byron; 17.4.1865.\n\nA Bachelor of Arts: P. Hardwicke; 10.2.1858, 8.5.1865. Betsey Baker; J.M. Morton; 23.3.1853.\n\nBinks the Bagman: J.S. Coyne; 8.10.1857.\n\nThe Birthday: T.J. Dibdin; 9.2.1858.\n\nBlack-eyed Susan: D.W. Jerrold; 28.3-5.4.1865.\n\nBombastes Furioso: W.B. Rhodes; 28.1.1851, 5.5.1858.\n\nThe Boots at the Swan: C. Selby; 14.12.1865.\n\nBox and Cox: J.M. Morton; 15.5.1854, 18.2.1857.\n\nThe Bride of Abydos: H.J. Byron; 22.10.-28.10.1864.\n\nBullrick at Kroll: N.N.; 28.3.1864.\n\nCamille: A. Dumas Jr; 27.3.1865.\n\nA Capital Match: J.M. Morton; 23.4.1857, 3.12.1864.\n\nCharles the Second: J.H. Payne; 16.3.1858.\n\nCinderella: H.J. Byron? T. Taylor?; 12.11.-18.11.1864, 28.4.1865. The Colleen Bawn: D. Boucicault; 25.4.1865.\n\nA Conjugal Lesson: H. Danvers; 26.3.1857.\n\nConrad and Medora: W. Brough; 12.E.-18.E.1864.\n\nCool as a Cucumber: M.W.B. Jerrold; 26.3.1857, 30.3.1864, 4.4.1864. Crinoline: R.B. Brough; March 1863; 16.3.1863, 1.4.1864.\n\nThe Daughter of the Regiment: E. Fitzball? 15.4.1865.\n\nA Dead Shot: J.B. Buckstone; 11.4.1865.\n\nThe Debut: N.N.; 1.4.1864.\n\nDelicate Ground: C. Dance; 13.2.1864.\n\nDiamond cut Diamond: W.H. Murray; 12.12.1850.\n\nDone on both sides: J.M. Morton; 10.2.1858.\n\nThe Dragon of Wantley: H. Carey & J.F. Lampe; 26.1.1852.\n\nDuck Hunting: J.S. Coyne; 30.3.1864, 4.4.1864,\n\nThe Dustman's Belle: C. Dance; 9.2.1858.\n\nFaint Heart never won Fair Lady: J.R. Planché; 8.10.-14.10.1864, 14.12.1865.\n\nA Fast Train! High Pressure!! Express!!!: J.M. Maddox; 8.3.1854.\n\nA Fearful Tragedy in the Seven Dials: C. Selby; 15.2.1860.\n\nFitzsmythe of Fitzsmythe Hall: J.M. Morton; 26.3.1863.\n\nThe Flowers of the Forest: J.B. Buckstone; 28.3.-5.4.1865. Fra Diavolo: H.J. Byron; 15.10.-21.10.1864.\n\nThe Frantic Husband: N.N.; 26.4.1865.\n\nThe Golden Farmer: J.C. Cross? B. Webster? 8.10.1857,\n\nA Good Night's Rest: C.G.F. Gore; 21.2.1856.\n\nThe Goose with the Golden Eggs: A. Mayhew & H. Sutherland; 13.2.1863, 17.2.1863, 26.4.1865\n\nThe Governess (Die Gouvernante): T. Körner; 28.3.1864.\n\nGrimshaw, Bagshaw and Bradshaw: J.M. Morton: 2.6.1859.\n\nThe 'Green' Bushes: H.J Byron: 30.9.1865.\n\nA Hard Struggle: J.W. Marston; 12.11.-18.11.1864.\n\nThe Harvest Home: A.F.F. von Kotzebue; 28.3.1864.\n\nThe Haunted Inn: R.B. Peake; 6.5.1852.\n\nThe Heir at Law: G. Colman the Younger; 21.4.1851.",
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        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
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