Theatre
Robbery Under Arms
Synopsis
Sub-inspector Goring harasses Aileen Marston and threatens to arrest her father, Ben, if she does not yield to him. Ben and his sons, Dick and Jim, live by theft alongside Captain Starlight, a gentleman bandit to whom the play gives the opening lines of the novel, while the bandit Moran plays the part of the real villain. According to Elizabeth Webby, two newly arrived Irish policemen and an old maid provide the comedy, and Inspector Sir Ferdinand Morringer embodies a police force that only a middle-ranking officer corrupts.
Context
The play was first performed on 1 March 1890 at the Alexandra Theatre in Melbourne, which Dampier leased, before Boldrewood and his family; Dampier, who had obtained exclusive rights to the adaptation in 1889, played Starlight, the role with which he was most associated. The first-person narrative, with almost no dialogue, made it necessary to cut large sections, including the droving of the herd to Adelaide. The play borrows from the story of Ned Kelly and from Les Misérables, and Walch's share probably lies in the comic plot. Often revived, as far as London in 1894, it marked, according to Elizabeth Webby, the plays and early films about Kelly.
Who it is for
A melodrama in English, written for the stage; Richard Fotheringham's 1985 edition makes it available for reading.
Prizes and reception
A great success of the colonial stage, often revived in the 1890s and 1900s, but a failure in London according to the ADB.
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