On the 4th of May 1894 'A Story of Waterloo' by Arthur Conan Doyle opened at the Lyceum Theatre, London. Written before Conan Doyle's career exploded with the success of his well known character Sherlock Holmes, this play, based upon his short story from 1891, 'A Straggler of '15', was deemed good enough for Henry Irving who as manager of the Lyceum bought the rights to the play in an instant. The play is about the last remaining soldier, Corporal Gregory Brewster, from the 3rd Guard who fought at Hougoumont during the Battle of Waterloo. It sees Brewster being visited in his very old age by soldiers who wish to meet a hero of Waterloo. The piece was deemed by Irving to be, 'written for him' and he was determined to produce it with all his melodramatic flair. All who had been given the script to read beforehand and those who saw the rehearsals attested to the piece being a tear jerker and a great play for Irving to act. It was of course a piece that only served Irving for it is essentially 45 minutes of him acting while 3 other characters support his performance with minimal importance.
The decision that Irving would debut the piece in a nationwide tour is odd, after all the Lyceum, whilst not producing its best work in 1894, was still a highly respected theatre and a play by the most popular crime author of the day would be incredibly well received by the London audience. It did, however, gain almost rave reviews throughout the provinces with many reviewers feeling lucky to have brought a play before the London audience. Although the play is a good example of Victorian melodrama it was chosen because, as Bram Stoker who worked for Irving at the Lyceum declared, it is an 'acting play'. So the play was a regional success and many people declared it a wonderful piece, so why is it that there is so little information out there about the production?
W. Davis King's book 'Henry Irving's Waterloo', from which I learnt much about this production, blames the reviews of George Bernard Shaw. In volume one of Shaw's 'Our Theatres In The Nineties' we find his review of the production. The review begins with a very strong attack on Irving as an actor declaring that Henry Irving is a ridiculous actor on the stage who acts absurd because of his restrained character off the stage. Then follows two pages of dressing down Irving's various performances before we even get to 'A Story of Waterloo'. Shaw begins on the subject of the play by saying the reason it is perceived so well is due to the writing skills and tricks of Conan Doyle. Shaw admits it is an acting play but then says that all that means is that it is a play which does not require the actors to do much. Shaw makes an argument that once an audience knows the age of the main character, the setting and the other characters half the battle has been won in convincing them of the world they are about to see on stage. He then goes on to break down the play bit by bit pointing out how pretty much any person could be given Irving's role and be a success. Shaw then supposes that Irving knew that hardly any acting was required and had planned to hoodwink the audience into believing more of his hype that he was the greatest actor of the day. Once finished with Irving, Shaw decides to dress down Conan Doyle by describing how he 'exploited' the audience, Shaw does give Doyle credit by saying it is ingenious, and compared the Battle of Waterloo to a, 'stand-up street fight between an Englishman and a Frenchman'. Shaw finishes the article by freely admitting that he wants to 'drive sketches such as A Story of Waterloo... away to the music hall' and given that when researching for this piece I found minimal information on the play it seems he succeeded.
I do not know if the play is really any good, I have not read it, but I have read the short story it is based on 'A Straggler of '15' and I found it moving even by today's standards. Melodramatic? Yes, but it is a good, little, sad story and I can see from reading it why Conan Doyle turned it into a play. If anyone has seen a copy of this play or has seen a production of it please let me know as I am interested in learning more about it.
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