''Robbery Under Arms'' is a 1890 play by

Alfred Dampier Alfred Dampier (28 February 1843? 1847? – 23 May 1908) was an English-born actor-manager and playwright, active in Australia.John Rickard,Dampier, Alfred (1843–1908), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 4, Melbourne University Pres ...

and

Garnet Walch Garnet Walch (1 October 1843 in Broadmarsh (Tasmania) – 3 January 1913 in Melbourne), was an Australian writer, dramatist, journalist and publisher. From 1872 on, he became very popular as author of numerous pantomimes, burlesques, melodramas ...

based on the novel of the same name by

Rolf Boldrewood Thomas Alexander Browne (born Brown, 6 August 1826 – 11 March 1915) was an Australian author who published many of his works under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood. He is best known for his 1882 bushranging novel ''Robbery Under Arms''. Biogra ...

History

In 1889 Dampier secured the exclusive rights to prepare a dramatization of the Boldrewood novel. This was not an easy task, as the novel is mostly first person descriptive, with very little dialogue, and great sections had to be omitted, notably the opening chapter, in which "Captain Starlight" takes 2000 head of stolen cattle overland from country New South Wales to Adelaide. The play premiered on March 1, 1890, following Walch's dramatization of Victor Hugo's ''

Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. L ...

''.

Opening night

The play was staged on 1 March 1890 at the

Alexandra Theatre, Melbourne Her Majesty's Theatre is a 1,700-seat theatre in Melbourne's East End Theatre District, Australia. Built in 1886, it is located at 219 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. It is classified by the National Trust of Australia and is listed on the Vic ...

, which Dampier had on a long lease. T. A. Browne and family were guests of honour in a

stage box A stage box is an interface device used in sound reinforcement and recording studios to connect equipment to a mixing console. It provides a central location to connect microphones, instruments, and speakers to a multicore cable (snake), which ...

. The following were principal players that evening: *Alfred Dampier as Captain Starlight *Walter E. Baker as Dick Marston, his loyal lieutenant *Watkin Wynne as Jim Marston, the amiable reluctant outlaw *

Edmund Holloway Edmund Holloway (c. 1820 – 18 August 1906) was an Australian actor. History Edmund "Old Ned" Holloway was born in Hull, England, and came out to Australia as a sailor "jumping ship" at Hobart. He worked on the Melbourne stage for some years be ...

as Ben Marston *

Lily Dampier Katherine Annabel Lily Dampier (1867 or 1868 – 6 February 1915), known as Lily Dampier, was an Australian actor of stage and screen. She was the daughter of Alfred Dampier and married to Alfred Rolfe. Her best known stage parts were Sylvia i ...

as Aileen Marston * Alfred Boothman as George Storefield, an industrious settler *

Carrie Bilton Carrie may refer to: People * Carrie (name), a female given name and occasionally a surname Places in the United States * Carrie, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Carrie, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carrie Glacier, Olympic Nati ...

as Billy the Boy * Harry Stoneham as the cold-blooded villain Dick Moran * J. B. Atholwood as Warrigal, the Aboriginal hero * Katherine Russell as the vengeful Kate Morrison *

Julia Merton Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g. ...

as elderly spinster Euphrosyne Aspen, a comic character *J. Caesar, as trooper Maginnis, another comic character *

Reg Rede Reg or REG may refer to: * Reginald (disambiguation) * Reg or desert pavement * Raising for Effective Giving, a charity * Random event generator (parapsychology) * Raptor Education Group * Regal Entertainment Group * Regular language * .reg MS Wind ...

, trooper O'Hara, also a comic character Six years later the play had evolved somewhat with a couple of new characters but very few cast changes: * F. C. Appleton as Sir Ferdinand Merringer * Charles Field as Inspector Goring *

George Buller General Sir George Buller (1802 – 12 April 1884) was an English general officer of the British Army who served in the Rifle Brigade and as a commander of a brigade in the Crimean War. Life He was the third son of General Frederick William Bu ...

as trooper O'Hara *Belcher as trooper Maginnis * Alfred Rolfe as Dick Marston *

Herbert Forrest Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, ...

as Jim Marston

Notes

References

{{Reflist Australian plays adapted into films 1890 plays