Introduction Guide
Read our guide to Arthur Sullivan’s The Zoo, including details about the story, the history and more about ENO’s production.
The Zoo Synopsis
By Arthur Robinson, edited by John Savournin
Members of the public (The Chorus) are visiting London Zoo. They notice that Carboy is trying to hang himself. He explains that the father of Laetitia, the woman he loves, has rejected him because he is a mere apothecary (or pharmacist in today’s terms). Eliza orders Carboy to desist and Thomas Brown, who has been wooing Eliza, suspects that Carboy is a rival, but she reassures him.
Laetitia arrives in search of Carboy. The two sing a duet of rapturous reunion, as Eliza and Thomas Brown sing their own duet in counterpoint – a patter-song about all the refreshments Thomas has consumed while visiting Eliza’s cafe. Finally Thomas comes to and Carboy sends Eliza off to get a prescription for him. Then, continuing his medical examination of Thomas, he discovers the Order of the Garter beneath his coat and diagnoses that “he’s a peer in disguise.” Thomas, recovering, admits this and explains that he has come here incognito “in search of virtue” and found it in Eliza. The chorus advise him to go and return in his full regalia.
Laetitia’s father, Mr Grinder, now appears, in search of his daughter and Carboy, furious at their reunion. They try to appeal to Grinder’s finer feelings, but in vain, so Carboy again resolves to attempt suicide. He sings a touching farewell to Laetitia and exits towards the bear pit.
At this dramatic moment, Thomas Brown (actually the Duke of Islington in disguise!) returns and reveals his true identity to Eliza, asking her to marry him. She is reluctant to leave the animals she loves so well, distraught at the thought that without her and her refreshments, the animals might not be fed. But Thomas has a surprise for her – he has bought all the animals!
As they sing of their happiness, Carboy reemerges, not yet dead (much to the irritation of the assembled company) and explains that the bears seem to have been moved on account of some repairs, and so he will try the lion’s den. Thomas, however, comes to a financial arrangement with Mr. Grinder to obtain his permission for Laetitia’s marriage to Carboy, and so all prepare for their future of happiness!
The Zoo FAQs
The Zoo opera has music from one-half of the Gilbert & Sullivan’s duo – composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. The lyrics for the opera were written by Bolton Rowe, the pen-name of librettist B. C. Stephenson. The opera premiered in London in 1875 just after Gilbert & Sullivan‘s first opera Trial by Jury.
The story of The Zoo opera follows two pairs of lovers at a London Zoo. A nobleman, Thomas Brown, who is disguised as a commoner, woos a young woman, Eliza Smith, running a refreshment stall. While a young pharmacist, Carboy, panics after thinking he may have poisoned his girlfriend Laetitia, as he might have mixed up her father’s medication with some peppermint for her.
Sullivan & Rowe’s The Zoo is a one-act opera that is approximately 40mins. In ENO’s 2027 production of the opera, Arthur Sullivan’s The Zoo will be paired with Gilbert & Sullivan’s opera Trial by Jury.
The production will begin with The Zoo, where we meet a pair of young lovers who, despite hidden identities, secret marriages and mischievous mix-ups, manage to become engaged. But in the pairing of the two operettas, we then head to the courtroom for Trial by Jury, where the young lovers are now battling against each other. Cue chaos, joyous absurdity and an unexpected twist – courtesy of a romantically-inclined judge.
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An Introduction to The Zoo
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