The Happy Land
[1][2] The play created a scandal by breaking regulations against the portrayal of public characters, parodying William Ewart Gladstone, Robert Lowe, and Acton Smee Ayrton, respectively the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and First Commissioner of Works.
The Happy Land also anticipated some of the themes in the political satire seen in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, including unqualified people in positions of authority, like Sir Joseph in H.M.S.
Pinafore, selecting government by "competitive examination" as in Iolanthe, and especially the importation of English exemplars to "improve" a naive civilisation, as in Utopia, Limited.
[4] In The Wicked World, this element is "mortal love", while in The Happy Land, it is "popular government", which is delivered to Fairyland by Gladstone, Lowe, and Ayrton.
[5] The three men depicted, and clearly identified by their make-up and by costumes designed after contemporary cartoons in Vanity Fair, were, respectively, Britain's Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Commissioner of Works.
The three characters were described in the cast list as Mr. G., Mr. L., and Mr. A. Gladstone's government is portrayed as mean and uncaring of Britain's national interests, degrading British prestige abroad.
The manager expressed regret at what had occurred, and begged that the piece might be allowed to be performed as originally licensed, promising to adhere verbatim to the text, and to avoid anything which should convert the general allusions into personalities" including the make up of the actors.
[9] However, Marie Litton, the theatre's manager, claimed that the eighteen pages were merely the number that contained a modification of some sort, and that she believed it was acceptable as it was being done elsewhere.
She also published the script as it was originally performed – with the cut sections written in all capital letters,[8] and posted a notice that read: The scandal, which was great enough to be included in the Annual Register's "Chronicle of Remarkable Occurrences",[1] generated widespread publicity for the play, and, even without the makeup, everyone knew who was really being portrayed.
[7] In fact, wrote The Times, "the Lord Chamberlain has proved a mighty instructor ... everybody perfectly knows whom [the three actors] are intended to represent, and every line they utter is the signal for an approving roar.
Gilbert, in his topsy-turvy manner, stigmatized the ethics and morality of popular government, as the Liberal program was called, and predicted the dire consequences for England of this innovation.
According to Gilbert, this was the gloomy outlook for Great Britain under popular government, and it reflected, as the critical reception of The Happy Land showed, a large body of contemporary opinion.
The whole affair had proved such a political liability for the Lord Chamberlain, however, that he had no choice but to order The Realm of Joy to be licensed, with only the "usual changes".
[17][18] In later years, Gilbert appears to have become ashamed of the subversive tone of The Happy Land: in 1909, testifying to a joint committee on stage censorship, he said that his "maturer judgement" on the play was that the Lord Chamberlain's "interference was absolutely justified".
Mr. G. advises that even in this situation, she should not consider resigning or apologising; but Selene ultimately rejects this, although she has feelings for Mr. G. The three mortal honourables return to earth, as they must attend a cabinet meeting.
Gilbert created several blank verse "fairy comedies" at the Haymarket Theatre in the early 1870s beginning with The Palace of Truth (1870) and Pygmalion and Galatea (1871).
[24] Charity critiqued the contrasting ways in which Victorian society treated men and women who had sex outside of marriage, which anticipated the 'problem plays' of Shaw and Ibsen.
In the operas these schemes range from the notion that "true love [is] the source of every earthly joy," in The Sorcerer; through the prescription of "Republican [equality]" as a remedy for social ills in The Gondoliers; to the systematic plan for political and social reforms brought from England by the Flowers of Progress for the benefit, and ultimate corruption, of the south sea island kingdom of Utopia in Utopia Limited" and its salvation through the institution of party politics.
