The Lyons Mail (play)

rdf:langString The Lyons Mail (play)

rdf:langString The Lyons Mail is an 1877 drama by Charles Reade based on his play The Courier of Lyons (1854). The new version was written for Henry Irving for performance at the Lyceum Theatre. Reade's play was based on the 1796 Courrier de Lyon case in Revolutionary France, drawing inspiration from a previous play based on the case by the French writers Paul Siraudin and . Reade had written the play specifically for the actor Charles Kean. It had its début on 26 June 1854 with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in attendance. The roles of Joseph Lesurques and Dubosc were played by the same actor. In the original production this was Henry Irving. Later the roles were played by his son H. B. Irving, Bransby Williams (wearing Irving's costumes from the original production) at the Lyceum Theatre (1923) and John Martin Harvey at the Savoy Theatre (1930), who had played Joliquet in the 1891, 1893 and 1898 revivals at the Lyceum, among other actors. At the Lyceum the role of Jeanette was often played by Ellen Terry. The play's backdrops by Hawes Craven used in the productions at the Lyceum were destroyed in a fire in 1897 at the theatre's scenic store in Bear Lane in Southwark. In 1901 Irving and Ellen Terry took the play alongside Charles I, The Merchant of Venice, Louis XI, Nance Oldfield, The Bells, Waterloo and Madame Sans-Gêne on a tour of the United States where it played at the Knickerbocker Theatre in New York, among other venues. In 1905 Henry Irving made his farewell tour of the provinces in seven plays for which he was best known including The Lyons Mail. So many supernumerary actors were required that rather than hire local people Irving took his on tour with him.