GAGGING IN “G. & S ”

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 245, 11 July 1921, Page 6

GAGGING IN “G. & S ”

GILBERT HIMSELF TtfE CHIEF GAGGER SAYS MR. CHARLES WALENN

(By

“Sylvius.")

Some interest has been aroused during the season of “The Gondoliers” in the old, old question of the legitimacy or otherwise of gagging in the dialogue of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Confirmed devotees of the works in their original form experience "a dagger thrust in the shoulder” when they hear an unfamiliar line spoken—a line which they know from their experience was never sjxiken in the original performances in London or here. Yet new lines are introdue.-d on both sides of the globe to the jarring of the sensibilities of those who would preserve their Gilbert undefilcd. Seeking .some light on the question of “gagging” in Gilbert and Sullivan, I. happened to meet Mr. Charles Walenn, who entered into the subject, smiling indulgently (ns he has the right to do, seeing that he has played Ko-Ko in “The Mikado” 2011 times). “Gagging! Oh, 1 don’t think there is very much of it dene, if you mean by ‘"awning’ the insertion of lines not imttcn°by ML S. Gilbert. If you mean new lines not in the original ’script, then Gilbert was the. chief gagger himselt. What! He wrote in extra lines? “Oh yes, often, on the supposition that he was bringing the dialogue up to dateThen the “gag” of Tessa, s in Tne Gondoliers” was inserted by Gilbert. “Oh, yes —it has be?n spoken loi It scarcely sounds Gilbertian. "No, probably not—but that: opens out a bi." subject. Gilbert, perhaps, was in his later years not perhaps the man he used to be, tlmugh he retained his brilliant sense of humour. Yet at rehearsals at the Savoy he would direct the dialogue and insert a line here and there that, was not in the original, and which may or may not have been an improvement. And these extra lines came into genwhat Gilbert said went, nnd so what are regarded as 'gags’ are as often as not tire author’s lines, at later revivals of his oberas in Londt1 “Of course,” continued Air. Walenn, "(he public only know the late Sil M ■ b. Gilbert as a master wit and sntiiwt, but during his later years he became very terse, and could be eyen bitter. Tt is said that on one occasion he remarked to a very conscientious comedian who was doing his best at rehenrea ’Don't try and! be + s will attend to that!’ Now, that vas r “lt y w n afat frehearsal in connection .-ith tee last revival of ’Pinafore’ at the Savoy (London) that GVlbert to-markerl-as the ladies of the chorus en"TVhnt n flippy-looking lor of <l} fashioned girls!’ They wore the traditional dresses with the sailor collars and white shoes, which had. always been tho accepted thing m- the . °P eTa ’ what he had. originally specified had become old-fashioned 1 —even m the eyes of the author.” Accepting Mr. Watenn’s views as correct, one can, therefore, never be sure when an actor is gagging or not. Un one point, however, I am firm, and that is teat no interpolated line (not in the original 'script) that I have eve heard! has been an improvement in the text nud, more often than not, was the reverse Mr. Walenn mentioned one case where Gilbert deliberately ordered an allusion to lie made topical in The Mikado.” That is, the point where the Mikado asks Ko-bo for his missing son s address- Ko-Ko, in that case, is allowed to, and generally does, name a town, locality or street well known to the particular audience he is playing before. It alwavs brings a good laugh, and, after all’, Gilbert and Sullivan is comic opera—not tee Koran. There are, too, instances where it is absolutely necessary to make changes in the original ’script in order to keep up the joke, or, in other words, to sustain the Gilbertian sense when time has obscured it. For example, in the original 'script of "The Mikado" Ko-Ko in the course of “Tit Willow” used to sing: "And that curious anomaly. The lady novelist, I’ve cot her ou the list. I’m sure she'd not be missed. Thirty-six years ago the lady novelist was a rarity, and, save for ouo or two outstanding examples, such as the Brontes, George Eliot, Miss Braddon, and “Ouida,” their products were not of a very high average standard. The line would be ridiculous to-day, as the lady novelist is just as evident in the land as tho male novelist, and she would be very sadly missed, if put out of the way by Ko-Ko’s snicker-snee. So. to-day Mr. Walenn sings: "And that curious anomaly, The scorching motorist. 1 don't think he'd be missed, I’m sure he'd not be missed.'' Probably when wo lire all flying 29 years hence, it will seem silly to find fault, with “the motorist,” but in the meantime the comic threat to finish off the terror of tho roads is greeted with sympathetic laughter. Truly, time is the ouly true uuraveller (vide Gilbert)!