Barrister, Poet, and Playwright
An Appreciation by J. FRANCIS TOYE
Whether or not the collaboration of Gilbert and Sullivan was a proof that two and two may sometimes make five, a centenary affords a favourable moment for splitting the component parts of the partnership and, for once, considering Gilbert (born a hundred years ago today) without Sullivan. Here, anyway, is Gilbert's record.
He was the outstanding figure among
Victorian playwrights (he preferred that word, scoffing at ' dramatist '), and one of the greatest humorists and satirists of all time. His fame was originally founded on the ' Bab Ballads ' (1869) and ' More Bab Ballads ' (1873), which revealed him as a master of quip and whimsy as well as a most original crafts-man in matters of rhyme and metre. These, together with a particular delight in the humours of topsy-turvydom that lias added a new word to the language. were the chief assets he brought to the famous partnership. But he also brought an unusual mastery of practical stagecraft, to say nothing of an inflexible will and a caustic tongue that made him a ' character ' in his own day, and are still remembered with something like awe.