The Flying Dutchman; or, the Phantom Ship: A Grand Melo-Dramatic Romance, in Three Acts.

Bookseller Notes

There were numerous editions of this highly successful play, though this seems to be the only one where it is neither 'a Nautical Drama' or 'a Nautical Burletta'. Nautical melodramas were Fitzball's forte. Later on he invented 'a magic lantern projection from backstage onto gauze of the ghostly vessel, which grew larger, approaching the land, as the lantern retreated on its tracks further upstage. This saved the theatre the materials and labour involved in building a very large model of a ship on stage, the usual practice. If the claim is correct, this would have been the first use of back projection on the English stage' (ODNB). The stage directions here call for quite prodigious effects: the climax: 'Back of cave bursts, and the waters rush down - Enter in a boat, Peppercoal, Peter, Tom, &c - they pull in under the rock, and save the rest of the characters.' This is the truncated version of the play, without songs. We have been able to locate only one other copy, Aberdeen.