The Hooligan
Encyclopedia
The Hooligan, A Character Study is a one-act play by W. S. Gilbert
. It opened at the Coliseum Theatre
in London on 27 February 1911 and ran for a month, being played both in the evenings and at matinees, for a total of about 42 performances.
The Hooligan was Gilbert's last play, produced just over three months before his death. It is a study of a young condemned murderer in a prison cell awaiting execution, inspired by the celebrated Crippen
murder trial of 1910. Gilbert's three-dimensional portrait of the prisoner, and the play's ending plot twist, surprised audiences and critics. In the play, as in some of his earlier pieces, Gilbert shows sympathy for people who commit a crime after enduring a hard life, expressing his opinion that nurture rather than nature was often the cause of criminal behaviour.
hooligan, the son of a thief and brought up among thieves, has been condemned to death by hanging for murdering his former girlfriend. He wakes up on the morning of his execution hysterical, self-pitying, angry at the judge and self-justifying. However, Solly is not wholly unsympathetic, as his predicament is intolerable. He pleads for leniency on account of his weak heart, and because he didn't mean to kill the girl, only to "cut" her to teach her a lesson. His warders try to hearten him. A step is heard outside the door. He thinks they are coming to take him to his execution, but it is the Governor, the chaplain and the others arriving to tell him that his sentence has been commuted to penal servitude for life, or twenty years with good behaviour. Solly, unable to bear the shock of this news, dies of a heart attack
.
Gilbert was inspired by the celebrated Crippen
murder trial of 1910. As usual, Gilbert was thorough in his research, touring the Pentonville Prison and questioning its governor about procedures and also bringing the scenic designer to see it. The piece was so grim and powerful that, according to Mrs. Alec Tweedie, "women [in the audience] had gone out fainting." The Hooligan was one of Gilbert's most successful serious dramas, and experts conclude that, in those last months of Gilbert's life, he was developing a new style, a "mixture of irony, of social theme, and of grubby realism," to replace the old "Gilbertianism" that he had grown weary of. The main character, Solly, dies of a heart attack. Gilbert himself died of a heart attack only a few months after producing the play.
Into the 20th century, the Theatre Managers' Association had prohibited dramas from being presented in music hall
s. Oswald Stoll
, manager of the Coliseum
, challenged this ban, and finally the Association agreed that plays of up to thirty minutes and not more than six speaking characters could be performed. With The Hooligan, Gilbert was the first important dramatist to write for a music hall. Gilbert, who directed his own plays, almost cancelled the production when the leading actor, James Welch, took liberties with the script, until Welch wrote a letter of apology.
Gilbert paints a three-dimensional portrait of the prisoner with all his flaws and humanity. Aside from the surprise ending, there is no plot mechanism to interfere with the delineation of character, and as in Gilbert's earlier character piece Sweethearts
(1874), the result shows Gilbert to be successful at such pure character-writing. In The Hooligan, Gilbert revisited one of his old themes from his play Charity
(1874) and some of his other works, by pointing out "that the punishment of a man who never had been given a chance to rise out of the gutter should not be the same as the punishment of a man who had thrown away his chances." In the play, Gilbert shows obvious sympathy for his protagonist, the son of a thief who, brought up among thieves, has killed his girlfriend. Ian Bradley
notes that the playwright displays "his conviction that nurture rather than nature often accounted for criminal behaviour".
The Observer
focused on the grimness of the story, wondering whether it was appropriate for the stage: "Those who are in search of a 'mauvais quart d'heure' ... will certainly not be disappointed by the masterly and relentless skill with which Sir W. S. Gilbert and Mr. James Welch between them administer the desired sensation as part of an evening's variety entertainment. ... How far such a subject as this is suited for illustration on the stage may be open to doubt. But ... [if] the thing was to be done at all it could not have been done better, and there criticism must leave it." The Stageland column in the Penny Illustrated Paper
noted, "It disturbed everyone. Most to applause; a few to resentment. [A playgoer told the reviewer:] 'A man of a morbid turn of mind might think it all right, mightn't he?' ... a play like that is a play which you ought to pop in and see at once."
Holbrook Jackson
later wrote, "The theme is so painful as to be almost unbearable. I have seen people walk out in the midst of this play unable to stand any more of it. Yet those who remained in the grip of the horror, watching Welch revealing the fear of a condemned man during his supposed last few moments on earth – the fear of a man ... who has very little worth preserving in his life – those who remained laughed every now and then at the humour of it. Some things may be too deep for tears, but nothing is too deep for laughter."
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
. It opened at the Coliseum Theatre
Coliseum Theatre
The London Coliseum is an opera house and major performing venue on St. Martin's Lane, central London. It is one of London's largest and best equipped theatres and opened in 1904, designed by theatrical architect Frank Matcham , for impresario Oswald Stoll...
in London on 27 February 1911 and ran for a month, being played both in the evenings and at matinees, for a total of about 42 performances.
The Hooligan was Gilbert's last play, produced just over three months before his death. It is a study of a young condemned murderer in a prison cell awaiting execution, inspired by the celebrated Crippen
Hawley Harvey Crippen
Hawley Harvey Crippen , usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an American homeopathic physician hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, on November 23, 1910, for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen...
murder trial of 1910. Gilbert's three-dimensional portrait of the prisoner, and the play's ending plot twist, surprised audiences and critics. In the play, as in some of his earlier pieces, Gilbert shows sympathy for people who commit a crime after enduring a hard life, expressing his opinion that nurture rather than nature was often the cause of criminal behaviour.
Synopsis
Nat Solly, a young cockneyCockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
hooligan, the son of a thief and brought up among thieves, has been condemned to death by hanging for murdering his former girlfriend. He wakes up on the morning of his execution hysterical, self-pitying, angry at the judge and self-justifying. However, Solly is not wholly unsympathetic, as his predicament is intolerable. He pleads for leniency on account of his weak heart, and because he didn't mean to kill the girl, only to "cut" her to teach her a lesson. His warders try to hearten him. A step is heard outside the door. He thinks they are coming to take him to his execution, but it is the Governor, the chaplain and the others arriving to tell him that his sentence has been commuted to penal servitude for life, or twenty years with good behaviour. Solly, unable to bear the shock of this news, dies of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
.
Background
Hawley Harvey Crippen
Hawley Harvey Crippen , usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an American homeopathic physician hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, on November 23, 1910, for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen...
murder trial of 1910. As usual, Gilbert was thorough in his research, touring the Pentonville Prison and questioning its governor about procedures and also bringing the scenic designer to see it. The piece was so grim and powerful that, according to Mrs. Alec Tweedie, "women [in the audience] had gone out fainting." The Hooligan was one of Gilbert's most successful serious dramas, and experts conclude that, in those last months of Gilbert's life, he was developing a new style, a "mixture of irony, of social theme, and of grubby realism," to replace the old "Gilbertianism" that he had grown weary of. The main character, Solly, dies of a heart attack. Gilbert himself died of a heart attack only a few months after producing the play.
Into the 20th century, the Theatre Managers' Association had prohibited dramas from being presented in music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
s. Oswald Stoll
Oswald Stoll
Sir Oswald Stoll was an Australian-born British theatre manager and the co-founder of the Stoll Moss Group theatre company...
, manager of the Coliseum
Coliseum Theatre
The London Coliseum is an opera house and major performing venue on St. Martin's Lane, central London. It is one of London's largest and best equipped theatres and opened in 1904, designed by theatrical architect Frank Matcham , for impresario Oswald Stoll...
, challenged this ban, and finally the Association agreed that plays of up to thirty minutes and not more than six speaking characters could be performed. With The Hooligan, Gilbert was the first important dramatist to write for a music hall. Gilbert, who directed his own plays, almost cancelled the production when the leading actor, James Welch, took liberties with the script, until Welch wrote a letter of apology.
Gilbert paints a three-dimensional portrait of the prisoner with all his flaws and humanity. Aside from the surprise ending, there is no plot mechanism to interfere with the delineation of character, and as in Gilbert's earlier character piece Sweethearts
Sweethearts (play)
Sweethearts is a comic play billed as a "dramatic contrast" in two acts by W. S. Gilbert. The play tells a sentimental and ironic story of the differing recollections of a man and a woman about their last meeting together before being separated and reunited after 30 years.It was first produced on...
(1874), the result shows Gilbert to be successful at such pure character-writing. In The Hooligan, Gilbert revisited one of his old themes from his play Charity
Charity (play)
Charity is a drama in four acts by W. S. Gilbert that explores the issue of a woman who had lived with a man as his wife without ever having married. The play analyses and critiques the double standard in the Victorian era concerning the treatment of men and women who had sex outside of marriage,...
(1874) and some of his other works, by pointing out "that the punishment of a man who never had been given a chance to rise out of the gutter should not be the same as the punishment of a man who had thrown away his chances." In the play, Gilbert shows obvious sympathy for his protagonist, the son of a thief who, brought up among thieves, has killed his girlfriend. Ian Bradley
Ian Bradley
Ian Campbell Bradley is a British academic, author, theologian, Church of Scotland minister, journalist and broadcaster.At the University of St Andrews, he is Reader in Practical Theology and Church History and a University chaplain...
notes that the playwright displays "his conviction that nurture rather than nature often accounted for criminal behaviour".
Roles
- Nat Solly
- 1st Warder
- 2nd Warder
- Chief Warder
- 1st New Warder Mathers
- 2nd New Warder
- Governor
- Chaplain
- Doctor
- Two Under-sheriffs
Response
The play received generally good reviews. The Illustrated London News commented,"[H]ow much more than usually must [Gilbert] challenge our interest when he, the successor of Robertson, the apostle of fantasy, suddenly elects to rival the newest school of our dramatists on their own ground! ... [Gilbert] will confront us with that grimmest of all scenes of human misery ... the condemned murderer being prepared for his fate on the very morning of his execution. [plot summary] ... So ends a drama that is absolutely sincere, unflinchingly realistic, and makes no concessions in the way of fine writing or sentiment. It bears the very stamp of truth, as it should do, for it is the work of a magistrate, and its whole pathos ... depends on its never straining a point. If playgoers are not moved by the almost bald simplicity of the episode and by the superb acting of Mr. James Welch as the criminal, then nothing will move them."
The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
focused on the grimness of the story, wondering whether it was appropriate for the stage: "Those who are in search of a 'mauvais quart d'heure' ... will certainly not be disappointed by the masterly and relentless skill with which Sir W. S. Gilbert and Mr. James Welch between them administer the desired sensation as part of an evening's variety entertainment. ... How far such a subject as this is suited for illustration on the stage may be open to doubt. But ... [if] the thing was to be done at all it could not have been done better, and there criticism must leave it." The Stageland column in the Penny Illustrated Paper
Penny Illustrated Paper
The Penny Illustrated Paper was a cheap illustrated weekly newspaper, which ran from 1861 to 1913.Illustrated weekly newspapers had been pioneered by the Illustrated London News : its imitators included the Pictorial Times , and - after the 1855 repeal of the Stamp Act - the Illustrated Times...
noted, "It disturbed everyone. Most to applause; a few to resentment. [A playgoer told the reviewer:] 'A man of a morbid turn of mind might think it all right, mightn't he?' ... a play like that is a play which you ought to pop in and see at once."
Holbrook Jackson
Holbrook Jackson
George Holbrook Jackson was a British journalist, writer and publisher. He was recognised as one of the leading bibliophiles of his time.-Biography:...
later wrote, "The theme is so painful as to be almost unbearable. I have seen people walk out in the midst of this play unable to stand any more of it. Yet those who remained in the grip of the horror, watching Welch revealing the fear of a condemned man during his supposed last few moments on earth – the fear of a man ... who has very little worth preserving in his life – those who remained laughed every now and then at the humour of it. Some things may be too deep for tears, but nothing is too deep for laughter."