An Old Score

[1] He had previously written more than a dozen stage works, and although they were all intended to be funny, they were in the styles of burlesques, extravaganzas, pantomimes and one-act farces, not full-length, character-driven "comedies"; and so the play represents part of Gilbert's move from being a humorist to being a dramatist.

[2] It is also based partly on episodes in the lives of William Dargan, an Irish contractor, and John Sadleir, a banker who committed suicide in 1856.

Gilbert was a disciple of the playwright T. W. Robertson, who had introduced naturalistic staging and acting to Victorian era theatre.

The cast included Rosina Ranoe, who later married F. C. Burnand, and Henry Neville, who later produced some of Gilbert's plays.

[5] Following the Victorian tradition of long evenings in the theatre, An Old Score, which ran for two hours, was second on a triple bill beginning with an operetta[6] and ending with a "new opera bouffe", Columbus!, or the Original Pitch in a Merry Key, by Alfred Thompson.

[9][10][8] The Times wrote that "Generally, the characters are sketched with a firm hand, and the dialogue they utter, though not especially brilliant, is consistent and to the purpose.

"[11] Commenting on its opening night reception by the audience, the paper noted, "An Old Score was followed by every symptom of success, and if its good fortune does not prove permanent it will be because the work is too genuine a comedy to suit the taste of the age.

"[11] When Gilbert originally proposed the play to Hollingshead, the manager of the Gaiety Theatre, the latter was impressed by its "clever dialogue".

[10] Gilbert expert Andrew Crowther writes that, although the play has faults, "we can judge An Old Score to be a genuinely powerful drama.

Ethel, concealed, sees this interview, which makes her love Casby and forget her feelings for Harold, who has now been found and who can now marry Mary.