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Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular, a Comic Burletta
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
86 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1877
About the author
Charles Dickens
13.9k books29.3k followersCharles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
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July 1, 2024
Before Charles Dickens became a novelist; before he had had much more than “Sketches” and few short tales published, and certainly before his public knew him by anything other than “Boz”, Charles Dickens was involved with the theatre. He loved everything about it, from acting roles himself, to directing others, and voicing his opinions about the staging, set designs and music. We will sadly never have the opportunity to see what were reported to be his dynamic performances on stage—sometimes even described by the press at the time as “hypnotic”. They were to continue all his life, latterly in solo performances of his own works. But there is one aspect we can still access, and that is the short plays he wrote, very early in his writing career.
Indeed we are very lucky to still have access to the text of Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular. For many years only one copy was ever known to exist, in the possession of James Ripley Osgood, one of Dickens’s American publishers, and like “The Village Coquettes” it was lost in a fire in Boston in 1879. Luckily a couple of reprints from c. 1872 and 1877 were later found to have survived.
Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular is one of the three comic burlettas Charles Dickens wrote between 1834 and 1836, while he still was known as “Boz”. Audiences had already enjoyed the comedy of errors “The Strange Gentleman” and the musical farce “The Village Coquettes” the previous year. With Is She His Wife? they were to watch the final one in the trio. He was rapidly becoming one of the most popular writers in London.
To backtrack a little, in 1835, John Braham a popular singer opened the new St. James’s Theatre in Drury Lane. He had conceived the idea, and built it, but he lost money by it and retired after 3 seasons. However, it was a working theatre right up until 1957, when it was demolished. John Braham’s company included a well-known actor called John Pritt Harley, and three of Dicken’s plays were performed here. Then in 1837 J.P. Harley was to play the part of Mr. Samuel Pickwick in “Mr. Pickwick”.
On 2nd April 1836, Charles Dickens married Catherine Hogarth. For their honeymoon they spent a week at the cottage of a Mrs. Nash, in Chalk, near Gravesend, Kent. It could not be any longer, because Dickens was still working as a Parliamentary reporter, and the only time he could only take away from work was during the Easter recess. Ten months later, in February 1837, the couple were to return to the same cottage, this time for an entire month. By now things had changed considerably.
Two days before the wedding, the first installment of “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club” had appeared, and Dickens had taken the plunge and left his job as a reporter, to devote himself to writing. Still as “Boz”, he was now one of the most popular writers in London. In fact he was so busy, that he had to carry on with his writing whilst in Chalk. What he produced, and sent off to London by priority mail on Sat 4th February, was Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular. It was to premiere on 6th March 1837.
The trigger for the comic burletta was that the celebrated actor John Pritt Harley wanted another vehicle to show off his talents. He was well established, having started acting in 1802 and well-known in provincial theatres in England. He had enormous success in “The Strange Gentleman”, followed by his popular portrayal as Martin Stokes in Dickens’s comic burletta “The Village Coquettes”. (LINK HERE for my review.) Dickens thought he had just the thing, and wrote back to J.P. Harley:
“I have by me a little piece in one act called ‘Cross Purposes’, which I wrote long before I was Boz. It would admit of the introduction of any Music; and if you think there is anything in it, it is at your service.” The play was therefore over two years old.
Is She His Wife? is the only time we can be sure that Dickens used work from the days before his success, to meet this sudden demand for his writing. In February 1837 he had begun to publish some more sketches called “A Parish Boy’s Progress” (which would become the novel “Oliver Twist”) at the same time as writing “The Pickwick Papers, and he would follow straight on with “Nicholas Nickleby”. As a newly married man, Dickens also had not inconsiderable personal commitments. Two months before the play opened at St. James’s Theatre on 6th March 1837, his first child Charley was born, and one month later the family moved to Doughty Street (which now houses the Charles Dickens Museum). It is understandable then, if from time to time he revised earlier material.
The part which Dickens had in mind for J.P Harley was the most cheerful and comedic character Felix Tapkins, one of Dickens’s eternal optimists. Is She His Wife? provided a marvellous opportunity for Mr. Harley to deliberately overact, and the audience loved it. They expected such things in their farces and melodramas.
The story of Is She His Wife? revolves around two married couples. Each of them is uncertain of their relationship. Alfred Lovetown (played by Mr. Forester) is bored, and his wife (played by Miss Allison) thinks he does not love her. We also have another couple, Peter Limbury (played by Mr. Gardner) who is a jealous husband, and his wife (played by a celebrated actress of the day, who had also acted in “The Strange Gentleman”, Madame Sala) is flirtatious. Felix Tapkins is a happy-go-lucky bachelor, who accidentally becomes involved in both couples’ devious scheming, and makes one key mistake which sets them all against each other.
Everyone makes assumptions which are not the case. The whole thing is loud, absurd and hilarious. It follows the conventions of many theatre farces of the time, and strings together a series of contrived coincidences and implausible misunderstandings. Here is the plot in a nutshell:
There are many asides and confidences made directly to the audience, who at the time would relish this sort of technique. They liked and expected such things. But it is not only the audiences of the time who could relate to the behaviour of these married couples. It is instantly recognisable, and timeless.
The joy of this good-natured and frivolous farce was somewhat soured for Dickens though. Charles and Catherine Dickens were attending a performance of Is She His Wife? at the St James’s Theatre on 6th May 1837, two months into its run. They had taken along Catherine’s 17 year old sister Mary Hogarth, who lived with them. But after she had returned home to Doughty Street Mary collapsed unexpectedly, and actually died in her brother-in-law’s arms the following afternoon. Charles Dickens was devastated, and was to grieve for Mary all his life. Mary Hogarth had a heart-shaped locket, containing a lock of Charles Dickens’s hair. After her death he had a lock of her hair set in a signet ring which he always wore. Mary was the first person to read episodes of “The Pickwick Papers” and “Oliver Twist”, as Dickens valued her input and feedback more than his wife's. When she died he missed his writing deadline for the next installment; one of only two occasions this happened in his life.
Seven months later on 12th December 1837, Dickens returned to the St. James Theatre, but requested different seating:
“let us have either a pit or proscenium box on the same side as that in which we used to sit; but not a box on the same tier, or opposite. Old recollections make us shun our old haunts, or the sight of them.”
Significantly, Dickens repeatedly included 17 year old heroines in his novels and stories, who sometimes recovered from mysterious life threatening ailments, which seems like pure wish fulfilment.
Ever since he died, people have wondered about Dickens’s infatuation with Mary Hogarth. Some critics have looked to his works for signals, and one (Robert Douglas-Fairhurst) suggested that Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular is a “cynical debunking of married life” with the blame squarely laid at the feet of the presumed infatuation. Others too have suggested that it is essentially pessimistic and indicates early difficulties in his marriage to Catherine. However, this is a fanciful interpretation and extremely unlikely. It cannot be autobiographical since, as mentioned, most of the play dates from two years earlier. Thus most of it had been written long before Charles and Catherine married, and the final touches made in the honeymoon cottage were done with John Pritt Harley in mind. Felix Tapkins is one of Dickens’s eternal optimists, and Dickens well knew how J.P Harley could bring off such a role. His revisions were to do with this character. Such retrospective musings do not accord with the facts; marital discord was to set in many years later than their honeymoon.
However, we do know that Charles Dickens had another motive for writing these farces, as well as wanting to entertain everyone and become even more high profile. He was trying to promote the moral suitability of works in the minor theatres, and that fact allied with establishing his own reputation with the middle classes was in the front of his mind.
There was a difference between what was “legitimate” theatre, and accepted by the Lord Chamberlain, and what was not. So-called “minor” theatre was frowned on and not considered acceptable entertainment for middle class audiences. We may think of these farces as just a bit of fun, but Charles Dickens had his campaigning hat on even with these slight pieces, which were often put on as a second feature for a main work, as here:
Playbill now in the Dickens Museum in Doughty Street
In Is She his Wife? Dickens had chosen a deliberately provocative title for his most risqué work, and we wonder how on earth these females’ reputations can stay intact. Yet in the end it is all gentle banter, and any “singular” or scandalous elements are down to misunderstanding. There is nothing to worry the lower middle class and middle class audiences Charles Dickens sought. It may have that saucy title, but there is nothing outrageous or vulgar to rock the dearly cherished family values of respectable middle classes here.
Felix Tapkins ends the play with this speech:
“The key to the whole matter is that I’ve been mistaken, which is something singular. If I have made another mistake in calculating on your kind and lenient reception of our last half-hour’s misunderstanding (to the audience), I shall have done something more singular still. Do you forbid me committing any more mistakes, or may I announce my intention of doing something singular again?”
In both “The Strange Gentleman” and “The Village Coquettes” Dickens had written a similar apologia at the end. Mere suggestions of intrigues and extramarital affairs, flippant jokes about adultery—and even a woman displaying her shapely ankle—were all good wholesome fun in a family entertainment, he insisted, providing it all came to nothing.
This final speech is a direct challenge to the Lord Chamberlain. Charles Dickens, via his character of Felix Tapkins, is asking the audience to show their approval, by enthusiastic applause. If there was any booing, then a theatre manager would be likely to terminate a play’s run. Such an appeal from the mouth of one of the characters in itself was intended to vindicate the play’s worth, as a piece above low, vulgar comedy. It was quite a clever manoeuvre, to ensure that anyone harbouring secret doubts that the Lord Chamberlain might be right about the quality of play in minor theatres would feel reassured that this was highly moral and respectable.
All plays at this time had to be registered with the Lord Chamberlain for licensing, as required by law. “The Village Coquettes” had been subject to “choppings and changings” according to Dickens, in its passages about seduction, gambling, and subversion. On the other hand, nothing in Is She His Wife? had to be censored.
Sadly Charles Dickens was never to write another play for the St. James Theatre. “The Pickwick Papers” was already a runaway success, and was destined to be one of the most popular novels of the century. But his plays never reached those heights, and even their limited success was due in part to the fame of the celebrated actor John Pritt Harley, who had made so much of the broad comic scenes.
Naturally enough Dickens pursued writing the serial novels which were so enormously popular. In fact he did just once offer to write a two act play for the St. James Theatre, but requested the huge amount of £150, which was five times what he had received for “The Strange Gentleman” Dickens was now too popular and expensive for theatre managers to commission new plays by him.
Is Is She his Wife? Or, Something Singular, a Comic Burletta worth reading now? Yes, indeed it is! As we read, we can well imagine it in the theatre, although only a couple of companies have dared to try to revive it. Charles Dickens makes sure that the audience are in the know, with all his characters’ asides and little soliloquies, which are a delight. It is a short, tightly constructed one act play, with just two scenes; both witty and absurd. In fact we need to be alert to keep up with everything. The farcical elements would be a gift to any good comic actor; “hamming it up” and exaggerating would only enhance this sort of comedy. What an experience it must have been to be in the audience in 1837.
However the next year was to see an event which was to change everything. On William IV's death, on 20th June 1837, during the run of Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular, a young woman just 18 years of acceded to the English throne. Once Victoria was crowned Queen, on 28th June 1838, the world would never be the same again. And she championed the young Charles Dickens.
Indeed we are very lucky to still have access to the text of Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular. For many years only one copy was ever known to exist, in the possession of James Ripley Osgood, one of Dickens’s American publishers, and like “The Village Coquettes” it was lost in a fire in Boston in 1879. Luckily a couple of reprints from c. 1872 and 1877 were later found to have survived.
Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular is one of the three comic burlettas Charles Dickens wrote between 1834 and 1836, while he still was known as “Boz”. Audiences had already enjoyed the comedy of errors “The Strange Gentleman” and the musical farce “The Village Coquettes” the previous year. With Is She His Wife? they were to watch the final one in the trio. He was rapidly becoming one of the most popular writers in London.
To backtrack a little, in 1835, John Braham a popular singer opened the new St. James’s Theatre in Drury Lane. He had conceived the idea, and built it, but he lost money by it and retired after 3 seasons. However, it was a working theatre right up until 1957, when it was demolished. John Braham’s company included a well-known actor called John Pritt Harley, and three of Dicken’s plays were performed here. Then in 1837 J.P. Harley was to play the part of Mr. Samuel Pickwick in “Mr. Pickwick”.
On 2nd April 1836, Charles Dickens married Catherine Hogarth. For their honeymoon they spent a week at the cottage of a Mrs. Nash, in Chalk, near Gravesend, Kent. It could not be any longer, because Dickens was still working as a Parliamentary reporter, and the only time he could only take away from work was during the Easter recess. Ten months later, in February 1837, the couple were to return to the same cottage, this time for an entire month. By now things had changed considerably.
Two days before the wedding, the first installment of “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club” had appeared, and Dickens had taken the plunge and left his job as a reporter, to devote himself to writing. Still as “Boz”, he was now one of the most popular writers in London. In fact he was so busy, that he had to carry on with his writing whilst in Chalk. What he produced, and sent off to London by priority mail on Sat 4th February, was Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular. It was to premiere on 6th March 1837.
The trigger for the comic burletta was that the celebrated actor John Pritt Harley wanted another vehicle to show off his talents. He was well established, having started acting in 1802 and well-known in provincial theatres in England. He had enormous success in “The Strange Gentleman”, followed by his popular portrayal as Martin Stokes in Dickens’s comic burletta “The Village Coquettes”. (LINK HERE for my review.) Dickens thought he had just the thing, and wrote back to J.P. Harley:
“I have by me a little piece in one act called ‘Cross Purposes’, which I wrote long before I was Boz. It would admit of the introduction of any Music; and if you think there is anything in it, it is at your service.” The play was therefore over two years old.
Is She His Wife? is the only time we can be sure that Dickens used work from the days before his success, to meet this sudden demand for his writing. In February 1837 he had begun to publish some more sketches called “A Parish Boy’s Progress” (which would become the novel “Oliver Twist”) at the same time as writing “The Pickwick Papers, and he would follow straight on with “Nicholas Nickleby”. As a newly married man, Dickens also had not inconsiderable personal commitments. Two months before the play opened at St. James’s Theatre on 6th March 1837, his first child Charley was born, and one month later the family moved to Doughty Street (which now houses the Charles Dickens Museum). It is understandable then, if from time to time he revised earlier material.
The part which Dickens had in mind for J.P Harley was the most cheerful and comedic character Felix Tapkins, one of Dickens’s eternal optimists. Is She His Wife? provided a marvellous opportunity for Mr. Harley to deliberately overact, and the audience loved it. They expected such things in their farces and melodramas.
The story of Is She His Wife? revolves around two married couples. Each of them is uncertain of their relationship. Alfred Lovetown (played by Mr. Forester) is bored, and his wife (played by Miss Allison) thinks he does not love her. We also have another couple, Peter Limbury (played by Mr. Gardner) who is a jealous husband, and his wife (played by a celebrated actress of the day, who had also acted in “The Strange Gentleman”, Madame Sala) is flirtatious. Felix Tapkins is a happy-go-lucky bachelor, who accidentally becomes involved in both couples’ devious scheming, and makes one key mistake which sets them all against each other.
Everyone makes assumptions which are not the case. The whole thing is loud, absurd and hilarious. It follows the conventions of many theatre farces of the time, and strings together a series of contrived coincidences and implausible misunderstandings. Here is the plot in a nutshell:
There are many asides and confidences made directly to the audience, who at the time would relish this sort of technique. They liked and expected such things. But it is not only the audiences of the time who could relate to the behaviour of these married couples. It is instantly recognisable, and timeless.
The joy of this good-natured and frivolous farce was somewhat soured for Dickens though. Charles and Catherine Dickens were attending a performance of Is She His Wife? at the St James’s Theatre on 6th May 1837, two months into its run. They had taken along Catherine’s 17 year old sister Mary Hogarth, who lived with them. But after she had returned home to Doughty Street Mary collapsed unexpectedly, and actually died in her brother-in-law’s arms the following afternoon. Charles Dickens was devastated, and was to grieve for Mary all his life. Mary Hogarth had a heart-shaped locket, containing a lock of Charles Dickens’s hair. After her death he had a lock of her hair set in a signet ring which he always wore. Mary was the first person to read episodes of “The Pickwick Papers” and “Oliver Twist”, as Dickens valued her input and feedback more than his wife's. When she died he missed his writing deadline for the next installment; one of only two occasions this happened in his life.
Seven months later on 12th December 1837, Dickens returned to the St. James Theatre, but requested different seating:
“let us have either a pit or proscenium box on the same side as that in which we used to sit; but not a box on the same tier, or opposite. Old recollections make us shun our old haunts, or the sight of them.”
Significantly, Dickens repeatedly included 17 year old heroines in his novels and stories, who sometimes recovered from mysterious life threatening ailments, which seems like pure wish fulfilment.
Ever since he died, people have wondered about Dickens’s infatuation with Mary Hogarth. Some critics have looked to his works for signals, and one (Robert Douglas-Fairhurst) suggested that Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular is a “cynical debunking of married life” with the blame squarely laid at the feet of the presumed infatuation. Others too have suggested that it is essentially pessimistic and indicates early difficulties in his marriage to Catherine. However, this is a fanciful interpretation and extremely unlikely. It cannot be autobiographical since, as mentioned, most of the play dates from two years earlier. Thus most of it had been written long before Charles and Catherine married, and the final touches made in the honeymoon cottage were done with John Pritt Harley in mind. Felix Tapkins is one of Dickens’s eternal optimists, and Dickens well knew how J.P Harley could bring off such a role. His revisions were to do with this character. Such retrospective musings do not accord with the facts; marital discord was to set in many years later than their honeymoon.
However, we do know that Charles Dickens had another motive for writing these farces, as well as wanting to entertain everyone and become even more high profile. He was trying to promote the moral suitability of works in the minor theatres, and that fact allied with establishing his own reputation with the middle classes was in the front of his mind.
There was a difference between what was “legitimate” theatre, and accepted by the Lord Chamberlain, and what was not. So-called “minor” theatre was frowned on and not considered acceptable entertainment for middle class audiences. We may think of these farces as just a bit of fun, but Charles Dickens had his campaigning hat on even with these slight pieces, which were often put on as a second feature for a main work, as here:
Playbill now in the Dickens Museum in Doughty Street
In Is She his Wife? Dickens had chosen a deliberately provocative title for his most risqué work, and we wonder how on earth these females’ reputations can stay intact. Yet in the end it is all gentle banter, and any “singular” or scandalous elements are down to misunderstanding. There is nothing to worry the lower middle class and middle class audiences Charles Dickens sought. It may have that saucy title, but there is nothing outrageous or vulgar to rock the dearly cherished family values of respectable middle classes here.
Felix Tapkins ends the play with this speech:
“The key to the whole matter is that I’ve been mistaken, which is something singular. If I have made another mistake in calculating on your kind and lenient reception of our last half-hour’s misunderstanding (to the audience), I shall have done something more singular still. Do you forbid me committing any more mistakes, or may I announce my intention of doing something singular again?”
In both “The Strange Gentleman” and “The Village Coquettes” Dickens had written a similar apologia at the end. Mere suggestions of intrigues and extramarital affairs, flippant jokes about adultery—and even a woman displaying her shapely ankle—were all good wholesome fun in a family entertainment, he insisted, providing it all came to nothing.
This final speech is a direct challenge to the Lord Chamberlain. Charles Dickens, via his character of Felix Tapkins, is asking the audience to show their approval, by enthusiastic applause. If there was any booing, then a theatre manager would be likely to terminate a play’s run. Such an appeal from the mouth of one of the characters in itself was intended to vindicate the play’s worth, as a piece above low, vulgar comedy. It was quite a clever manoeuvre, to ensure that anyone harbouring secret doubts that the Lord Chamberlain might be right about the quality of play in minor theatres would feel reassured that this was highly moral and respectable.
All plays at this time had to be registered with the Lord Chamberlain for licensing, as required by law. “The Village Coquettes” had been subject to “choppings and changings” according to Dickens, in its passages about seduction, gambling, and subversion. On the other hand, nothing in Is She His Wife? had to be censored.
Sadly Charles Dickens was never to write another play for the St. James Theatre. “The Pickwick Papers” was already a runaway success, and was destined to be one of the most popular novels of the century. But his plays never reached those heights, and even their limited success was due in part to the fame of the celebrated actor John Pritt Harley, who had made so much of the broad comic scenes.
Naturally enough Dickens pursued writing the serial novels which were so enormously popular. In fact he did just once offer to write a two act play for the St. James Theatre, but requested the huge amount of £150, which was five times what he had received for “The Strange Gentleman” Dickens was now too popular and expensive for theatre managers to commission new plays by him.
Is Is She his Wife? Or, Something Singular, a Comic Burletta worth reading now? Yes, indeed it is! As we read, we can well imagine it in the theatre, although only a couple of companies have dared to try to revive it. Charles Dickens makes sure that the audience are in the know, with all his characters’ asides and little soliloquies, which are a delight. It is a short, tightly constructed one act play, with just two scenes; both witty and absurd. In fact we need to be alert to keep up with everything. The farcical elements would be a gift to any good comic actor; “hamming it up” and exaggerating would only enhance this sort of comedy. What an experience it must have been to be in the audience in 1837.
However the next year was to see an event which was to change everything. On William IV's death, on 20th June 1837, during the run of Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular, a young woman just 18 years of acceded to the English throne. Once Victoria was crowned Queen, on 28th June 1838, the world would never be the same again. And she championed the young Charles Dickens.
June 26, 2024
A comic play from Dickens read with the Dickensians group. This is a satire on marriage which depends on confusion and misdirection for its humor. The first scene (act) or set up is scatterbrained and effective. The second provides all the necessary comic corrections and insults but in a definite mid-eighteenth century style that saps some of the humor created earlier. Interesting to read another view of Dickens but no comparison to his novels. And they really can’t be as these are short pieces.
June 25, 2024
Charles Dickens' one-act play, "Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular" was presented at St James's Theatre in 1837. It features a newly married couple, an older couple, and a bachelor. The play is an amusing farce with lots of misunderstandings. It would have been played as a broad comedy with frequent monologues and asides to share the characters' feelings and misinterpretations with the audience.
June 24, 2024
A comic little burlesque from the master, Charles Dickens. I laughed, because I generally enjoy a comedy of errors, but I did not think this as good as The Strange Gentleman, which we read earlier.
June 27, 2024
I’ve enjoyed observing Dickens’ love of theatre in his novels, so reading this play from early in his career was great fun.
A newly married man at the time this came out, Dickens gives us a short, fun, farce about marriage, jealousy and misunderstandings. The cast is small--just a couple of couples and a light-hearted trouble-maker--and the plot is a bit like the game of telephone, where a story starts at one end of a line of people, is whispered one to the next until, by the end, it becomes something entirely different. We are very susceptible to being misled when our heart is at stake.
Read with the Dickensians group, as part of this year’s Dramatic Dickens focus. Thanks to all who participated!
A newly married man at the time this came out, Dickens gives us a short, fun, farce about marriage, jealousy and misunderstandings. The cast is small--just a couple of couples and a light-hearted trouble-maker--and the plot is a bit like the game of telephone, where a story starts at one end of a line of people, is whispered one to the next until, by the end, it becomes something entirely different. We are very susceptible to being misled when our heart is at stake.
Read with the Dickensians group, as part of this year’s Dramatic Dickens focus. Thanks to all who participated!
June 10, 2020
IS SHE HIS WIFE? is a question that perplexes a number of characters in this one-Act farce by Charles Dickens. Farce sacrifices characterization for humorous reactions to an outlandish plot event. Some other Dickens attempts in this field would try the patience of the modern Reader. However, I found myself laughing out loud on multiple occasions. The most fun of all was imagining the delivery of the various “asides” and the “looks” of astonishment as characters were aware of what was happening, but determined that it must mean something else.
Dickens playfully engages the human reactions of jealousy and the desire to see oneself as being attractive to others. The drives are so strong that people go to extreme lengths to protect their egos. Although it was not up to the level of the film, “Smiles of a Summer Night,” I was reminded of that show a few times.
IS SHE HIS WIFE? was a pleasant diversion. I would very much enjoy seeing it staged.
Dickens playfully engages the human reactions of jealousy and the desire to see oneself as being attractive to others. The drives are so strong that people go to extreme lengths to protect their egos. Although it was not up to the level of the film, “Smiles of a Summer Night,” I was reminded of that show a few times.
IS SHE HIS WIFE? was a pleasant diversion. I would very much enjoy seeing it staged.
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