A member of Webster's company, Ruth Herbert, took over in 1864 and ran the theatre until 1868. She attracted much praise for presenting Henry Irving in his first important appearance on a London stage. His performance in Dion Boucicault's "Hunted Down" in November 1866 caused a sensation. The following month the theatre presented W. S. Gilbert's first burlesque, "Dulcamara! or, The Little Duck and the Great Quack", a parody of Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore", which ran until Easter the following year. The Herbert management ended in April 1868. The theatre historian W. J. MacQueen-Pope writes: