[3] O'Rourke finally achieved success at the age of 41, when he performed two very diverse roles in Hamlet and the comedy Three Fingered Jack on the same night at the Adelphi Theatre in Liverpool in 1854.

During that same year, he began a profitable collaboration with the composer Michael William Balfe by writing (in collaboration with Augustus Glossop Harris) the librettos for the operas The Rose of Castille (1857) and Satanella (1858), as well as the lyrics for Balfe's popular song Killarney, which remained a concert hall favourite well into the 20th century.

A reporter for The Times reviewed the show and said: "The characters are sharply defined and exactly of a kind to be perfectly intelligible to a large audience."

Meanwhile, he contributed two comedies to the Haymarket Theatre, too, Family Wills and Does He Love Me?, both starring Amy Sedgwick.

Falconer made £13,000 in profit during his time as manager at the Lyceum, which he used in 1862 to buy a joint lease for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, with Frederick Balsir Chatterton.

Gambling on the Bard to turn a profit, he directed productions of Macbeth, As You Like It, Henry IV and Romeo and Juliet.

[6] Falconer was arrested for failing to pay his mounting debts later that month and, on 26 April 1866, he was declared bankrupt and sent to prison.

[7] Falconer attempted to revive his fortunes by penning a five-act drama, Oonagh, or, The Lovers Of Lismona, following his release, which was staged at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London, on 19 November 1866.

He died at his home at 28 Keppel Street, Russell Square, London, on 29 September 1879 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.

In a report on his death, the Manchester Guardian newspaper revealed that although Falconer "had made what could be called a colossal fortune" out of Peep O' Day, the dramatist "died penniless."

Joyce even thinks up a dreadful pun on the title; one of the characters asks which opera has the same name as a train's tracks, and the answer is 'Rows of Cast Steel'.