A Parody on Iolanthe

Dalziel’s parody follows the basic premise of Iolanthe in which the story centers on a fairy named Iolanthe and her son Strephon who falls in love with Phyllis a ward of the state. However in Dalziel’s version the plot is twisted for humor. Like the original the characters include members of the British aristocracy but they are portrayed in increasingly ridiculous exaggerated situations that highlight the absurdity of their behavior. In Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe a fairy is forbidden to marry a mortal and much of the opera’s comedy arises from the political and romantic entanglements that follow. In Dalziel’s parody the serious tones of political critique such as the satire of the House of Lords are played for farcical laughs with the characters acting in over-the-top ludicrous ways. The fairy realm and the political world collide in a series of silly misunderstandings with Dalziel mocking both the societal structures and the romantic conventions of the original work.