Elizabeth, or The Invisible Armada

Elizabeth, or The Invisible Armada is a burlesque F. C. Burnand (Francis Cowley Burnand, 1836–1917)[1].

Some sources give the name of the play as either E---LIZabeth, or The Don, The Duck, The Drake and The Invisible Armada or E-liz-abeth, or The Don, The Duck, The Drake and The Invisible Armada

Not to be confused with the plays called Elizabeth I (Foster) or Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman (Dario Fo).

The original text

According to the author, it was inspired by Sheridan's satiric account of "Puff's tragedy of The Spanish Armada" in The Critic (183*), some scenes from Tom Taylor's 'Twixt Axe and Crown (1870), and one scene from either the Italian play Elizabetta by, or The Grande Duchess by , but is "otherwise entirely original".

Burnand's play published in London by Tinsley Brothers, 1870.

Performance history in South Africa

1901: Performed in the Good Hope Theatre, Cape Town, in September, under the management of the Wheeler Brothers, and featuring the "young American tragedienne" Nance O'Neill.

1902: Repeated in the Good Hope Theatre, Cape Town, in February, again featuring Nance O'Neill.

Sources

Facsimile version of the 1870 published text, Hathi Trust Digital Library[2]

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Twixt-Axe-Crown-Lady-Elizabeth-Historical/12989041364/bd

John Scotney. 1988. Puff's "Spanish Armada": A Producer's Viewpoint. RSA Journal Vol. 136, No. 5386 (September 1988), pp. 745-748[3]

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: p. 410.

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