''Black-Eyed Susan; or, All in the Downs'' is a comic play in three acts by

Douglas Jerrold Douglas William Jerrold (London 3 January 18038 June 1857 London) was an English dramatist and writer. Biography Jerrold's father, Samuel Jerrold, was an actor and lessee of the little theatre of Wilsby near Cranbrook in Kent. In 1807 Dougla ...

. The story concerns a heroic sailor, William, who has been away from England for three years fighting in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. Meanwhile, his wife, Susan, has fallen on hard times and is being harassed by her crooked landlord uncle. A smuggler named Hatchet offers to pay her debts because he wants her for himself; he tries to persuade her that William is dead. Soon after William returns to solve this problem, his drunken, dastardly captain tries to seduce Susan. William, not recognising his captain from behind, strikes him with his cutlass. He is court-martialled for attacking a senior officer and sentenced to be hanged. But it turns out that he had been discharged from the navy before he struck his captain, so all ends well. Much of the humour in the piece centers on the sailor's nautical dialect, combined with his noble character. The play is a nautical

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

(with all its stock characters) that praises the patriotic British tar (sailor) while critiquing authoritarianism in the

British Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. Aspects of the story were later parodied in ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, whic ...

'' (1878). The play was Jerrold's first big success, premiering on 8 June 1829 at the Surrey Theatre and running for a new record of over 150 performances. Britain at the time was recovering from the fallout of the Napoleonic Wars and was in the midst of a

class war Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom gener ...

involving the

Corn laws The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They were ...

, and a reform movement, which resulted in the

Reform Act of 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

aimed at reducing corruption. ''Black-Eyed Susan'' consisted of various extreme stereotypes representing the forces of good, evil, the innocent and the corrupt, the poor and the rich, woven into a serious plot with comic sub-plots. Its topical subject contributed to the play's enormous success. T. P. Cooke starred as William, the nautical hero, becoming a star, and the producer,

Robert William Elliston Robert William Elliston (7 April 1774 – 7 July 1831) was an English actor and theatre manager. Life He was born in London, the son of a watchmaker. He was educated at St Paul's School, but ran away from home and made his first appearance on ...

, became rich. The piece played simultaneously at

Covent Garden Theatre The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

for part of the original run, and soon after it closed at the Surrey, it was revived at the

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

, for a total run of over 300 nights, which was extraordinarily successful for the time. After this, it was frequently revived. The play was revived at the

Warehouse Theatre The Warehouse Theatre was a professional producing theatre in the centre of Croydon, England. Based in an oak-beamed Victorian former cement warehouse, it had 100 seats. The theatre closed in 2012 following withdrawal of funding and the disco ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

in 1986, and the same production played at the Playhouse Oxford in 1987. It was directed by

Ted Craig Ted Craig FRSA (born 20 April 1948) is an Australian-born theatre director lately the artistic director of the Warehouse Theatre, South London, England. Biography Craig was born and educated in Melbourne, Australia. He worked in Australian te ...

and designed by Michael Pavelka. The cast included

Simon Slater Simon Slater (born 1959) is a British music director, composer, narrator, and actor. He has composed more than 300 original music scores for film, theatre, TV and radio, and is a member of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. I ...

Rita Wolf Rita Wolf (born Rita Ghose, ) is an American British actress born in Kolkata, India. US theatre credits include premieres of work by Tony Kushner ("Homebody/Kabul" at NY Theatre Workshop, also at BAM) and Richard Nelson ("The Michaels" at The Pu ...

and

Burt Caesar Burt Caesar is a British actor, broadcaster and director for stage and television, who was born in St Kitts and migrated to England with his family as a child.

. The piece was given a 2007 revival at the

Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds The Theatre Royal, formerly the New Theatre, is a restored Regency theatre in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The building is one of eight Grade I listed theatres in the United Kingdom, and is the only working theatre operated under the a ...

. The play was made into a 1914 film directed by

Maurice Elvey Maurice Elvey (11 November 1887 – 28 August 1967) was one of the most prolific film directors in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year. He a ...

. Among the numerous

Victorian burlesque Victorian burlesque, sometimes known as travesty or extravaganza, is a genre of theatrical entertainment that was popular in Victorian era, Victorian England and in the New York theatre of the mid-19th century. It is a form of parody music, parod ...

s and later parody versions of the play was an 1884 version by

F. C. Burnand Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (29 November 1836 – 21 April 1917), usually known as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and prolific playwright, best known today as the librettist of Arthur Sullivan's opera ''Cox and Box''. The son of ...

called ''Black Eyed See-Usan'', first produced at the

Alhambra Theatre The Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as the Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two yea ...

."Dramatic Gossip"
'' The Athenaeum: A Journal'', 16 August 1884, p. 220.

Characters

*Doggrass, ''a wealthy publican'' *Gnatbrain, ''a gardener and waterman'' *Tom Hatchet, ''a smuggler who covets Susan'' *Jacob Twig, ''a ploughboy turned bailiff'' *Susan, ''married to William and niece to Doggrass'' *Dolly Mayflower, ''a spinner in love with Gnatbrain'' *William, ''a sailor married to Susan'' *Blue Peter, ''a sailor'' *Ploughshare, ''a farm labourer'' *Lieutenant Pike, ''of William's ship'' *Captain Robert Crosstree, ''of William’s ship'' *The Admiral, ''in charge of the court martial'' *Master at Arms *Country girls and sailors

References

{{reflist

External links

Text of the play
English plays 1829 plays British plays adapted into films