Iolanthe
or
The Peer and the Peri
Iolanthe opened at the Savoy Theatre on November 25, 1882,
three nights after the final performance of Patience at the
same theatre, and ran for 400 performances.
Gilbert had taken potshots at the aristocracy before, but
in this "fairy opera," the House of Lords is lampooned as a
bastion of the ineffective, privileged and dim-witted. The
political party system and other institutions also come in
for a dose of satire. Yet, both author and composer managed
to couch the criticism among such bouncy, amiable
absurdities that it is all received as good fun. Both G and
S were at the height of their creative powers, and many
people feel that Iolanthe, their seventh work together, is
the most perfect of their collaborations.
Strephon, an Arcadian shepherd, wants to marry Phyllis, a
ward of the Court of Chancery. Phyllis does not know that
Strephon is half fairy -- down to the waist. When Phyllis
sees Strephon kissing an apparently young woman, she
assumes the worst. But her "rival" turns out to be none
other than Strephon's own mother, Iolanthe, a fairy --
fairies never grow old. But Phyllis' guardian, the Lord
Chancellor of England, and half the peers in the House of
Lords are sighing after her. Soon the peers and the fairies
are virtually at war, and long friendships are nearly torn
asunder. As in Trial by Jury, the Legal Mind comes up with
a clever solution to the problem.