Violent Laughter: Commemorating Anglo-French Co-operation and Forgetting Violence through Gilbert and Sullivan in Colonial Vanuatu

2025/10/02 by Kate Stevens · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Asian American and Pacific Histories #Interdisciplinary Cultural and Social Studies #Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/00223344.2025.2571126

openalex publication_date 2025/10/02 · openalex created_date 2025/11/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14

Abstract

Thomson Reid Cowell, assistant British resident commissioner in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), wrote a musical comedy – ‘with humblest apologies to Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan’ – depicting the absurdities of joint Anglo-French colonial governance over Vanuatu. His satirical opera was set in 1956, mirroring the real commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Condominium. Though portrayed as the height of imperial co-operation at annexation, the Condominium was beset by ongoing practical and political differences between British and French officials and subjects. This article examines the intersections between the performative nature of transimperial co-operation in Vanuatu, its critique through theatre, and the violent realities of imperialism obscured by such humour.

Discussions

• Next up from the Connected Histories of Empire: Stevens, K. (2025). Violent Laughter: Commemorating Anglo-French Co-operation and Forgetting Violence through Gilbert and Sullivan in Colonial Vanuatu. [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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