The Wicked World The Wicked World The Wicked World is a blank verse play by W. S. Gilbert in three acts. It opened at the Haymarket Theatre on 1873 and ran for a successful 145 performances, closing on 1873. The play is an allegory loosely based on a short illustrated story of the same title by Gilbert, written in 1871 and published in Tom Hood's "Comic Annual", about how pure fairies cope with a sudden introduction to them of "mortal love." Set in "Fairy Land", the action occurs within the space of 24 hours. Gilbert envisioned the set as resembling John Martin's 1853
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (play) was given in 1938 with Grahame Clifford as Claudius, Erik Chitty as Guildenstern, Leonard Sachs as Rosencrantz, and Peter Ridgeway as Hamlet. The play continues to receive occasional productions. It figures in the plot of the 2009 film "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead". 1874 was a busy year for Gilbert. He illustrated "The Piccadilly Annual"; supervised a revival of "Pygmalion and Galatea"; and, besides "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern", he wrote "Charity"; a play about the redemption of a fallen woman; a dramatisation of "Ought We to Visit Her?" (a novel by Annie Edwardes), an adaptation from the French, "Committed for Trial",