A Sensation Novel (1871) is a comic musical by W. S. Sullivan. First performed at the Royal Gallery of Illustration in January 1871, A Sensation Novel is one of Gilbert’s collaborations with composer Thomas German Reed, whose German Reed Entertainments have been credited with revitalizing British theatre. As a satire of Victorian sensation novels that employs self-aware stock characters, the play is a metatheatrical work that anticipates Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921), predating it by half a century. Lamenting his loss of creative energy, an author appeals to the Spirit of Romance for guidance. Appearing before him, the Spirit reveals a shocking truth: the characters he has been working on are actually the souls of sinners condemned to play their polar opposites for eternity. Not only this, but the characters will soon become real. In a panic, the author flees his home for a time. When he returns, he finds the figures who filled the pages of his novel have taken control of their destinies, defying his restrictions and reveling in the chance to be alive. A story of romance, adventure, and crime ensues, blending the popular themes of the era’s sensation novels for comic effect while investigating the nature of creativity itself. This edition of W. S. Gilbert’s A Sensation Novel is a classic work of English literature reimagined for modern readers.
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W. S. Gilbert (1836-1911) was an English librettist, dramatist, and poet. Born in London, Gilbert was raised by William, a surgeon and novelist, and Anne Mary, an apothecary’s daughter. As a child he lived with his parents in Italy and France before finally returning to London in 1847. Gilbert graduated from Kind’s College London in 1856 before joining the Civil Service and briefly working as a barrister. In 1861, he began publishing poems, stories, and theatre reviews in Fun, The Cornhill Magazine, and Temple Bar. His first play was Uncle Baby, which ran to moderate acclaim for seven weeks in 1863. He soon became one of London’s most popular writers of opera burlesques, but turned away from the form in 1869 to focus on prose comedies. In 1871, he began working with composer Arthur Sullivan, whose music provided the perfect melody to some of the most popular comic operas of all time, including H. M. S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), and The Mikado (1885). At London’s Savoy Theatre and around the world, The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company would perform Gilbert and Sullivan’s works for the next century. Gilbert, the author of more than 75 plays and countless more poems, stories, and articles, influenced such writers as Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, as well as laid the foundation for the success of American musical theatre on Broadway and beyond.
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