{"id":2858,"date":"2020-02-20T13:04:01","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T13:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=2858"},"modified":"2021-06-03T22:13:14","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T22:13:14","slug":"on-this-day-in-1820-byron-completes-and-dispatches-don-juan-iii-and-iv-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=2858","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in 1820: Byron completes and dispatches \u201cDon Juan\u201d III and IV (Part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this series, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of literary and historical events of the Romantic period. This is the second of a two-part OTD blog by Dr Emily Paterson-Morgan, Director of The Byron Society. The first was released yesterday to mark the bicentenary of Byron completing and Cantos III and IV of Don Juan and dispatching them to England. Click here for the first part<\/strong><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the previous\npost, I discussed the first Act of what is, I think, both the worst adaptation of\nByron\u2019s Don Juan<\/em> and also the funniest in its ham-fisted attempts to simplify\nthe delicious subtleties of one of the greatest and most complicated poems in\nthe English language into a low-brow theatrical romp fit for the masses. This is the \u2018three-penny Acting drama\u2019 titled Don Juan:\nA Musical Drama in Three Acts<\/em>, attributed to Charles Milner, a bizarre\ncreation which reduces Byron\u2019s satirical epic to a series of fighting and fornication\nscenes complete with a score of\nsongs and what the author\u2019s stage directions hubristically describe as \u2018ballets\u2019.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of Act\nI, Juan has seduced (or been seduced by) both the beautiful Donna Julia and her\nequally libidinous maid, discovered the cuckolded husband Don Alfonso in a\ncompromising position with Juan\u2019s own aunt, Donna Inez, and finally sauntered\noff stage to take a ship from Spain in search of pastures new. During the brief\ninterlude, as the curtains lower, the stage directions describe a \u2018picture\u2019\nshowing a ship tossing in storm-swept seas before being struck by lightning, at\nwhich point it slowly sinks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a decision that renders this production more like an episode of Love Island<\/em> (with its insistently titillating emphasis on copulation and conflict), Milner opted to discard Byron\u2019s brilliant cannibalism episode. Perhaps he felt that the killing and eating of the hapless Pedro might put his audience off. Certainly, it doesn\u2019t exactly lend itself to light-hearted ditties and dances \u2013 though I imagine the Monty Python team would have been able to make it work. Anyway, I digress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The curtain rises\non a sea-cave, with a half-naked and unconscious Juan watched over by two\nbeautiful oriental women. It is worth noting that Milner\u2019s Haidee is far more\ninsipid and his Zoe far more caustic than their Byronic counterparts, as the\nplaywright transforms these characters into the stock dramatic figures of the\nbuxom innocent and shrewish servant, playing to the less-refined tastes of his\nlower-class audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Haidee, who suffers none of the issues with language barriers which render the progression of Byron\u2019s island romance so protracted, offers her person and her wealth to Juan, our hero is all offended aristocratic dignity at the thought of so \u2018low\u2019 a connection. His outrage is conveyed in a series of asides to the audience, and it is easy to imagine Laura Honey in her male guise hamming it up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan: Have I the honour then of addressing a princess in her own right, was your father a monarch?
Haidee: At least, at home his will was absolute, here he dwelt, and none dared here resist his pleasure: but at most ties he dwelt upon the sea, and brought such treasures thence.
Juan: Aye, I understand \u2013 contraband, smuggler upon a large scale. (Aside.)<\/em> Tea. Tobacco.<\/strong>
Haidee: And conquered ships, and brought home many captives.
Juan: (Aside.)<\/em> Oh, pirates and cut-throats to boot! This is a creditable connection.<\/strong>
Haidee: He died at sea!
Juan: (Aside.)<\/em> Hung at the yard-arm! <\/strong>(II.i)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In a peculiar way,\nhowever, I find this scene more realistic than Byron\u2019s idealised scene of\nimmediate and improbable romance. As Haidee continues to enumerate her own charms,\nincluding great wealth, our Juan is revealed to be financially, as well as\nsexually, shameless. \u2018I\u2019m in a good thing!\u2019 he exclaims at last, sweeping\nHaidee into his arms and taking her up on all<\/em> of her offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The curtain drops on this touching scene and on wander a group of rollicking sailors bellowing sea-chanties. Their leader, Lambro, appears and we learn that \u2013 surprise, surprise \u2013 he has not drowned but merely been blown off course. He and his piratical band wander off the stage and the curtain rises once more to display Zoe and a drunken slave, Cyrus, in a ribald scene carefully calculated to appeal to the coarse, jingoistic humour of Milner\u2019s audience: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyrus: Well missee Zoe, what you think of all dis fine affair? What do you tink of your misses and of our new massa? Dim diblish hansom, and they like you and me.
Zoe: I think that she is mad!
Cyrus: As for me, missee, poor black man, me niber tink not at all, it enough for him to workee, workee, when cross old massa make him, and now it enough for him to drinkee, drinkee, now young massa giv him holiday, him very fine man. (II.ii)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is followed by a deliberately ludicrous\nconversation between the newly returned Lambro and Cyrus, the latter\u2019s ears\nstill ringing from a hefty box on the ears by an outraged Zoe when he suggested\nthey have sex (\u2018you no hab me for chum-chum, me bery nice all sugar and brandy\u2019).\nLambro thus learns about his daughter\u2019s affair with Juan and stalks off in high\ndudgeon towards the palace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, the audience finds a scene of deliciously\nover-the-top fantastical luxury and after a series of songs extolling the\ndelights of drunken hedonism and true love, accompanied by what the stage\ndirections optimistically call \u2018a Characteristic ballet\u2019, Lambro bursts in. The\nangry father attempts to shoot Juan, Haidee shrieks and flings herself\nprotectively in front of him, Lambro\u2019s \u2018ruffians rush in\u2019, Juan is overpowered\nduring yet another interminable fight scene, Haidee collapses and her lover is\nborne offstage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus concludes Act II. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We re-join the hapless hero in the third and final Act, and Milner clearly couldn\u2019t resist the opportunity for yet more crude vulgarity in the combination of a Spanish nobleman, a British sailor and a Constantinople slave market. It is here that we meet Will Johnson, probably the only truly funny character in this somewhat laboured theatrical production. Although based on Byron\u2019s experienced man-of-the-world John Johnson, whereas the original character is a subtly John Bullish sort of figure, Milner\u2019s Will Johnson is himself a caricature of the brash, ruddy-faced symbol of Englishness found in contemporary satires and prints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brave but buffoonish sailor, whose mouth is stuffed with naval cant and expletives, takes Juan under his wing and offers an amusing commentary on the ongoing sale proceedings in a series of humorous asides:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson: Pick-\u2018em out, damme it that chap don\u2019t think he\u2019s selling red herrings<\/p>


Johnson: Does he mean chimney ornaments?<\/p>


Johnson: Split my mainsail, they are rare judges here, it\u2019s the first time I was ever complimented on my beauty. (III.ii)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Bought by the eunuch Baba, Johnson and Juan are hustled into the palace haram. While Juan is carried away, Johnson remains onstage and catches sight of a British naval frigate sailing on the Bosporus in the distance. His \u2018true heart of [presumably English] oak\u2019 is predictably heartened by the sight.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Illustration from Milner Don Juan: A Musical Drama in Three Acts<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Juan, meanwhile, has been led into an oriental\nparadise. Brought before the unsurprisingly beautiful Gulbayez, he responds\nwith a typically rakish fervour, gobbling up her hand with passionate kisses.\nHaving got her attention, he then coyly refuses to consummate the relationship\nuntil she grants him his freedom, and in the following scene the two of them\nhaggle like fishwives at a market stall. Suddenly, this mercenary sexual\nforeplay is interrupted as Baba bursts in to warn his adulterous mistress that\nher husband, the Sultan, approaches. Juan is bundled, protesting, into a\nwoman\u2019s robes in the nick of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike Byron\u2019s version, where the next canto opens\nwith a disguised \u2018Juana\u2019 infiltrating the labyrinthine depths of the seraglio\nand ogling a succulent bevy of nubile odalisques, Milner couldn\u2019t resist\nincluding one final fight scene (his musical drama has all the predictability\nof a Jason Statham movie). Juan, instead of concealing his identity, casts off\nhis feminine clothing and starts to fight with the Sultan\u2019s attendants. Just\nwhen it seems he will be overpowered, Johnson bursts through the window with a\nhorde of British sailors recruited from the nearby naval frigate, saving the\nday to cries of \u2018Old England for ever\u2019. On this rousing note, Juan and his\ncomrades escape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surprisingly, however, the stage directions suggest\nthat after the gallant Johnson and his troupe return to the ship, accompanied\nby much \u2018splitting of mainsails\u2019 and \u2018damme\u2019s\u2019, it is sunk by Turkish canon\nfire. \u2018The Sultan triumphs\u2019 conclude the stage directions laconically. This\ndeliberate undercutting of patriotic fervour makes for an inexplicably downbeat\nending to a light-hearted but decidedly odd production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lacking finesse and arguably the most maladroit adaptation of Byron\u2019s poetic masterpiece, there is nevertheless a peculiar charm to Milner\u2019s Don Juan: A Musical Drama in Three Acts<\/em>, and I hope that one day someone will decide to put on another performance of it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact Anna Mercer <\/em>(mercerannam@gmail.com<\/a>) if you want to suggest a future post for this series. More details here<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this series, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of literary and historical events of the Romantic period. This is the second of a two-part OTD blog by Dr Emily Paterson-Morgan,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2858"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3709,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858\/revisions\/3709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}