RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p
CARL T. SMITH

THE HONG KONG AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB AND ITS PREDECESSORS

THE PROLOGUE

To set the mood for an article on Amateur Dramatics in Hong Kong, I quote a prologue to the performance of "the screaming farce", 'I've Written to Brown' presented on 21 April 1871 by the Hong Kong Amateurs.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the pleasing task

Is mine tonight your kindly smiles to ask,

For those who now behind the curtain wait,

With biding, anxious hearts to learn their fate.

So let your verdict generous be, the while

We strive a pleasant hour to beguile.

But who can now a pleasant hour boast,

With thirteen steamers daily up the coast

Sharebrokers pressing one to sell or buy

With telegrams cach minute from Shanghai

With stern Welsh witnesses, who'd rather brook

A Judge's ire than kiss a dirty book,

And, by their word prepared to stand or fall

Say they'll be if they will swear at all!

With piece goods market all to pieces gone,

Through sales of damaged shirtings ex the Don,

And, piling agony, beyond endurance

With Oily Phantom's new Chinese Insurance;†

Where, of our interests most august protectors,

They've such a crushing army of Directors!

Since last we met, though some enlivening rays

Of social light have cheered our nights and days,

A quiet Picnic to Victoria Peak

Photos in High Life, taken once a week

†The American firm of Olyphant and Company organized in 1871 at Hong Kong the Chinese Insurance Company. It was the first insurance company on the China coast to cater especially to Chinese shippers and merchants. Its Board was composed of both Chinese and foreigners.
================================================================================
RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p
244

1870/71

P

1871/72

1872/73

1873/74

—

1874/75

—

CARL T. SMITH

25 Nov. 1867 first performance of season at Club Lusitano Theatre:

"All that Glitters is not Gold" comedy (J. M. Morton, 1851)

"Cox and Box, married and settled" farce (F. C. Burnard and J. M. Morton, 1867)

19 Dec. 1867 Hong Kong Amateur Theatrical Society second performance:

"Romeo and Juliet" burlesque

"Little Toddlekins" farce (J. Mathews, 1852)

4 Nov. 1870 Amateur Dramatic Club first performance of season at Theatre Royal, City Hall.

"Diamond Cut Diamond" farce (W. H. Murray, 1838) "Orpheus and Eurydice" burlesque (H. J. Bryon, 1863)

20 Apr. 1871 "I've Written to Brown" farce (T. J. Williams, 1859) burlesque by Francis Talfourd.

28 Apr. 1871 "Ici, en Parlais Francais" (T. J. Williams, 1859)

"Shylock, or the Merchant of Venice Preserved" burlesque (F. Talfourd, 1853) also given in 1867.

-

26 Jan. 1872 - "The Two Bonnycastles" farce (J. M. Morton, 1851)

"Masanielle" burlesque (R. B. Brough, 1857)

21 Feb. 1872 - "The Rifle and how to use it" farce (J. V. Bridgeman, 1859)

11 Apr. 1872 "Castles in the Air" comedy (T. W. Robertson, 1854)

Instead of "Castles", the production may have been "Caste" by T. W. Robertson (1867)

3 Jan. 1873 - "Locked In" farce (J. P. Wooler, 1870)

"The Cricket on the Hearth"

13 Feb. 1873 "Kenilworth, or Ye Queen, Ye Earl and Ye Maiden", burlesque

13 Apr. 1873 "The Blighted Being" farce (T. Taylor, 1854)

"Checkmate" comedy (Andrew Halliday, 1869)

30 Oct. 1873

1853)

"Plot and Passion" (T. Taylor and J. Lang, 1853)

15 Nov. 1873 "The Spitalfield Hospital" farcical comedy

"Not such a Fool as she Looks" (H. J. Bryon, 1868)

2 Mar. 1874 —— "A Romantic Idea" (J. R. Planche, 1849)

"The Steeple Chase" (J. M. Morton, 1865)

5 Apr. 1875 - "Ticket of Leave Man" (T. Taylor, 1863)
================================================================================