May Fortescue company. She toured with her company for many years, frequently performing the plays of W. S. Gilbert. A tour of the United States from 1886 to 1887 included the New York premiere of Gilbert's play "Gretchen", with Fortescue in the title role (although "The New York Times" found her performance wanting). During these touring years, she revived at least eight other works by Gilbert, playing such roles as Jenny Northcott in "Sweethearts", Galatea in "Pygmalion and Galatea", Selene in "The Wicked World" and Clarice in "Comedy and Tragedy". Fortescue's troupe premiered Gilbert's 1897 drama, "The Fortune Hunter", in which she
Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack who wrote four more between 1867 and 1869. "Dulcamara" and its successors all comply with the burlesque traditions of the day, with dialogue in rhyming couplets, convoluted puns throughout, and an array of attractive actresses in tights or short skirts, playing male roles, a practice Gilbert renounced as soon as he was sufficiently influential in the theatre. In 1865–66, Gilbert collaborated with Charles Millward on several pantomimes, including one called "Hush-a-Bye, Baby, On the Tree Top, or, Harlequin Fortunia, King Frog of Frog Island, and the Magic Toys of Lowther Arcade" (1866). Gilbert's first solo success, however, came a few