The Palace of Truth

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The Palace of Truth is a three-act blank verse "Fairy Comedy" by W. S. Gilbert first produced at the Haymarket Theatre in London on November 19, 1870, adapted from Madame de Genlis's fairy story, Le Palais de Vérite. The play ran for a very successful 230 performances[1] and then toured the British provinces and enjoyed various revivals even well into the 20th century.[2] There was even a New York production in 1910.

Contents

[edit] Background

Gilbert created several blank verse "fairy comedies" at the Haymarket Theatre for John Baldwin Buckstone and starring William Hunter Kendal and his wife Madge Robertson Kendal (sister of the playwright Tom Robertson) in the early 1870s. These plays, influenced by the fairy work of James Planché, are founded upon the idea of self-revelation by characters under the influence of some magic or supernatural interference.[3] The Palace of Truth was the first of these, followed by Pygmalion and Galatea (1871), a satire of sentimental, romantic attitudes toward myth, The Wicked World (1873), Sweethearts (1874), Charity (1874), and Broken Hearts (1875). These plays did for Gilbert on the dramatic stage what the German Reed Entertainments had done for him on the musical stage. They established that his capabilities extended far beyond burlesque and won him artistic credentials as a writer of wide range, who was as comfortable with human drama as with farcical humor.

Although the play has substantial comic elements, it has the structure and feel of a drama.[4] The play was one of Gilbert's most successful works prior to his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan. The play ran for 230 performances at the Haymarket and then toured. Gilbert was paid 4 guineas per night until February 1871 and 2 guineas thereafter. On tour, Gilbert asked 3 guineas a night.[5]

Some of Gilbert's later works drew on The Palace of Truth for plot elements or their logical development, including his hit play, Engaged, where characters say openly what would ordinarily be hidden and admit what, in Victorian society, would be inadmissible.[6] Gilbert and Edward German discussed making The Palace of Truth into an opera, but after the failure of Fallen Fairies, the idea was abandoned.[7]

[edit] Roles

  • King Phanor
  • Prince Philamir
  • Chrysal
  • Zoram
  • Aristaeus
  • Gelanor
  • Queen Altemire
  • Princess Zeolide
  • Mirza
  • Palmis
  • Azem

[edit] Synopsis

The palace of King Phanor is enchanted, and everyone who goes into the palace is bound to speak the simple and unadulterated truth. The speaker has no idea that he is really telling the truth, and it is impossible to keep a secret there.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Chronology giving the number of performances
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). Volume XIII. "The Victorian Age", Part One. VIII. Nineteenth-Century Drama, § 15. W. S. Gilbert.
  4. ^ "Gilbert before Sullivan", a chapter of Gayden Wren's A Most Ingenious Paradox ISBN 0-19-530172-2
  5. ^ G&S Potted History 3 webpage
  6. ^ G&S Potted History 4 webpage
  7. ^ Edward German Discography

[edit] Reference

  • Stedman, Jane W. (1996). W. S. Gilbert, A Classic Victorian & His Theatre. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816174-3. 

[edit] External links

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