Once D'Oyly Carte left the Opera Comique the theatre's fortunes declined. It was unoccupied from October to the end of 1881. At the start of 1882, John Hollingshead and Richard Barker presented "Mother-in-Law", a frivolous comedy by George R. Sims, which ran in a double bill with a burlesque called "Vulcan", until May. They were followed by a spoof called "The Wreck of the Pinafore" by H. Lingard and Luscombe Searelle, described by "The Era" as "curious and impudent", which ran until October. During the rest of the 1880s a succession of managements presented a wide range of genres, from adaptations of French plays, Shakespeare, Sheridan, Ibsen, and a Dickens adaptation by the novelist's son, to musical shows, including "The Fay o' Fire" by Edward Jones and Henry Herman, which "The Era" later described as "notable as introducing Miss Marie Tempest to the regular stage". Composers whose works were presented at the Opera Comique in this period included Julia Woolf, Meyer Lutz and Victor Roger. Performers included Nelly Bromley, Frank Wyatt, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, Julia Gwynne and Penley.