The School for Sentiment, or The tar! The Tear!! and The Tilbury!!!

The School for Sentiment, or The tar! The Tear!! and The Tilbury!!! is a parody in five very brief "acts" by Gilbert À Beckett (1811 - 1856)[1]

The original text

The parody was written and published in Punch, or The London Charivari in 1843, ostensibly as Punch's entry for "the prize of £500 offered by Mr. B. Webster, lessee of the Haymarket Theatre, for the best original comedy, illustrative of English manners". It was subsequently published in a volume titled: Scenes from the rejected comedies (subtitled: by some of the competitors for the prize of £500 offered by Mr. B. Webster, lessee of the Haymarket Theatre, for the best original comedy, illustrative of English manners). Publication, distribution, etc. at the Punch Office, 194, Strand, in 1844.

The volume contains parodies by À Beckett of scenes from plays by James Sheridan Knowles ()[] and nine other playwrights of the day, including himself with these scenes from his own rejected comedy (The School for Sentiment).

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1860: Performed as The Tear, The Tar and the Tilbury (and billed as "a comic-tragedy in five acts", with no author given) in September, probably by Sefton Parry and members of the Cape Town Dramatic Club, as part of the festivities surrounding the visit to Cape Town of Prince Alfred, the son of Queen Victoria.