AustLit

A pantomime in five scenes, the story begins in the submarine world ruled by Ichthyologia, who causes a storm that wrecks Robinson Crusoe on an island. After falling asleep on a bank, Crusoe is discovered by Coralline, a water nymph, who falls in love with him. She subsequently has him carried off to a romantic dell in the island. This displeases Ichthyologia, and he threatens to turn Coralline into water if she persists in loving Crusoe. Complications set in, however, when Crusoe meets the octoroon Zoe, who inhabits the island with Friday and a company of Christy-style negro minstrels. He falls in love with her, not knowing that she is married to Friday. This relationship is a burlesque on Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon, while the Crusoe/Coralline relationship comments on the Pageant of British Worthies, including Shakespeare, Drake, Dickens, and Punch.

Containing a number of local references, the pantomime also includes songs of operatic style and other forms. The Argus critic notes that the production is treated in a thoroughly burlesque style, particularly the negro minstrel scenes. 'To make the the thing still more incongruous', writes the critic:

'Friday ... before his capture makes a stump speech in which allusions to Victorian politics and all sorts of events, occurs. The end of it all is that Crusoe is changed into Harlequin, Zoe into Columbine, Ichthyologia into Pantaloon and Friday into Clown, after which comes the transformation scene' (25 December 1868, p.5).