Thespis or the Gods Grown Old

by W.S. Gilbert

Thespis Or The Gods Grown Old is a book written by William S. Gilbert, originally published in 1871. It is a comic play that satirizes the Greek gods and their interactions with mortals. The story revolves around the god Jupiter, who is bored with his immortal life and decides to take a break from his duties. He and his fellow gods descend to Earth and take on the roles of actors in a traveling theater troupe. They perform for a group of mortals, who are initially skeptical of their divine status but eventually come to believe in them. The play is filled with witty dialogue, humorous situations, and Gilbert's trademark wordplay. It was one of Gilbert's earliest works and helped establish him as a successful playwright.THIS 26 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE The Works of Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, by William S. Gilbert. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1419159534.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Drama, Plays

26 pages, Paperback

First published December 26, 1871

About the author

British playwright and lyricist Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) wrote a series of comic operas, including Her Majesty's Ship Pinafore (1878) and The Pirates of Penzance (1879), with composer Sir Arthur Sullivan.

This English dramatist, librettist, poet, and illustrator in collaboration with composer Sullivan produced fourteen comic operas, which include The Mikado , one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre.

Opera companies, repertory companies, schools and community theatre groups throughout and beyond the English-speaking world continue to perform regularly these operas as well as most of their other Savoy operas. From these works, lines, such as "short, sharp shock", "What, never? Well, hardly ever!", and "Let the punishment fit the crime," form common phrases of the English language.

Gilbert also wrote the Bab Ballads , an extensive collection of light verse, which his own comical drawings accompany.

His creative output included more than 75 plays and libretti, numerous stories, poems, lyrics and various other comic and serious pieces. His plays and realistic style of stage direction inspired other dramatists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. According to The Cambridge History of English and American Literature , the "lyrical facility" of Gilbert "and his mastery of metre raised the poetical quality of comic opera to a position that it had never reached before and has not reached since."

Reviews

[Octavia Cade · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first of the Gilbert and Sullivan collaborations, and it's terrible. I understand the music's been lost, or most of it, and if it was no better than the prose then that loss is a lucky escape for the rest of us, I say. This tedious little play concerns the gods on Mount Olympus - they're old and cranky and tired of their jobs, so they swap roles for a year with a troupe of actors, and everything goes pear-shaped.

I know it's old, but mostly this just seems tired and not especially funny. Maybe it was fresher back in 1871, but I read it now and all I think is stale.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first full length Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, Thespis would be one of the first real musicals except for one thing: it doesn't technically exist. Performed in a rough draft state, the score was not preserved and was cannibalized, as were several lyrics, into later and better shows. This is clearly a first effort: the plot lurches about, the characters have inconsistent personalities, and even the puns are undercooked. Still, a fascinating look at what was to come shortly.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read on my Kindle as part of The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan. I couldn't find a video to accompany this one :(

Fairly humorous play about the Greek gods being aged and appointing a troupe of actors to fill in for them while they go to Earth to check out the modern world. One of the funniest parts reading this was the ridiculous names of the actors (such as Prepostero and Stupidias)!

[Peter Talbot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early W.S. Gilbert work: almost pedestrian in its deflating of both the stage and divinity: Victoriana notable for what it presages and its hint at devilish patter songs to come. For hardcore D'Oyly Carte fans. A better subtitle would have been: the Gods go slumming on vacation while dilettante actors do little to justify their roles: no orgies allowed.