ABSTRACT
At a dinner given in his honor three years before his death, W.S. Gilbert described circumstances that impinge upon the success of any dramatist. As reported in the Daily Telegraph of 3 February 1908, Gilbert observed that a writer’s achievement “may be, and often is, independent to a considerable extent of his own personal contribution.” He continued:
Happily for Gilbert (as he acknowledged to his dinner companions), his own successful career was upset by neither incompetent managers nor wandering cats. Gilbert was particularly fortunate in his association with Arthur Sullivan and Richard D’Oyly Carte, collaborators with whom Gilbert produced 13 comic operas between 1875 and 1896. Impresario Carte agreed that Gilbert and Sullivan should exercise unalloyed control over cast, scene-painters, and costumiers, so for the Savoy operas1 Gilbert found himself less “the sport and toy of circumstances” than the unfortunate playwright he described in his dinner remarks. Further, Carte managed affairs in front of the curtain so carefully and skillfully that the dramatist and composer had little to concern them in the day-to-day operations of the theater-a circumstance that occasionally grated on Gilbert, a man accustomed to handling his own business affairs. Gilbert’s long association with other managers, actors, publishers, and collaborators had impressed upon him the difficulty of ensuring the effective presentation of a play both on stage and in the marketplace,
where scripts were sold and managers paid fees to secure production rights. In contemplating the many contingencies surrounding the success or failure of any dramatic representation, Gilbert reflected upon the nature of theater itself, an art form as dependent upon the conditions of production, performance, and reception as upon the skills of a playwright.
