ABSTRACT
Gothic tales proved profitable on the Victorian stage, as evidenced by the success of James Planche’s The Vampire, or The Bride of the Isles and Henry Milner’s Frankenstein; or, The Man and the Monster, both starring T. P. Cooke. With those plays in mind, Edward Fitzball combined a horror story with nautical melodrama in The Flying Dutchman, featuring Cooke in a thrilling tale celebrated for its spectacle. The production of Fitzball’s Flying Dutchman has a colorful story behind it. Fitzball’s The Flying Dutchman follows Captain Peppercoal, who has arranged for his niece Lestelle Vanhelm to marry a man she has never seen: Peter Von Bummel. Fitzball’s play describes Vanderdecken as “an evil ghost” who gives “a demoniac laugh” when gunplay during his appearance on board ship leads to a sailor’s accidental death. In Frederick Marryat’s 1839 The Phantom Ship, Vanderdecken’s son sacrifices his own life to redeem his father.
