Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode

 

Arthur Bunnings

Mrs. Darwin/Ruby

Arthur's father (mentioned only)

Sapphire

Steel

Jane (on phone w/ Arthur only, not heard)

Arthur's friend (unnamed, mentioned only)

Arthur's father's secretary (unnamed, mentioned only)

audience

Phillip (revealed to be Pip from Great Expectations in "Water Like a Stone" Part 2)

Phillip's mother (revealed to be Miss Havisham from Great Expectations in "Water Like a Stone" Part 2)

 

Didja Notice?

 

This story takes place at an old stage theatre in England called the Capitol Palace. This appears to be a fictitious theatre.

 

When Sapphire and Steel arrive at the theatre, they encounter an aural manifestation of an audience watching the play The Abandoned Lady by Arthur's father. This is, of course, a fictitious play.

 

Arthur tells Sapphire that his friend has a "Bacon and Shakespeare" theory about his father's plays, that his father did not write the The Abandoned Lady. His description is a play on the old theory that Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was the real author of many or all of the plays of William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

 

The Abandoned Lady is about the mysterious final voyage of the Mary Celeste. The Mary Celeste was a real world ship that was involved in an unsolved mystery. The ship was a merchant brigantine found deserted and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872 with all crew missing and no sign of why they should have abounded ship. In "Escape Through a Crack in Time" Part 4, we learned that Sapphire and Steel were involved with that ship's final voyage. The plot of The Abandoned Lady does, in fact, seem to be about the appearance of Sapphire and Steel on the ship before its disappearance.

 

Arthur tells Sapphire that his father disappeared on January 3, 1987, "20 years ago". This sets the current story in 2007.

 

When a bell starts to chime somewhere near the theatre, Sapphire asks Arthur where the nearest church is. He tells her the village church lost its steeple so the nearest church with a bell must be in Feltham, about 15-20 miles away. Feltham is a town of West London.

 

The character of Ruby is introduced in this episode and she seems to be another agent of the higher power, like Sapphire and Steel, though her name is never mentioned in the opening preamble of Sapphire & Steel episodes.

 

    Ruby remarks that St. Valentine was martyred in 270 AD on February 14, "Juno's Day". The exact year is unknown, but 270 is one of the years given for the saint's martyrdom. Juno was the Roman goddess of marriage and she was celebrated on February 14.

    Ruby goes on to remark that she prefers February 15 as part of the feast of Lupercalia. Lupercalia is an ancient, pre-Roman festival meant to purify the land of evil spirits and promote health and fertility observed from February 13-15.

 

Arthur says that the lake up on Morlington Hill burst its dam on Christmas Eve of 1870. As far as I can tell, Morlington Hill is a fictitious location in the London area.

 

Ruby asks Arthur to play her some Holst on the piano. Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was an English composer. The song Arthur plays and they both sing is "In the Bleak Midwinter", a Christmas poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) that Holst had set to music in 1906.

 

Ruby compares Steel without Sapphire to Lead without Jet. In the study of "Escape Through a Crack in Time" Part 4, I speculated that there may be a partnership between Lead and the unseen Jet like the one between Sapphire and Steel.

 

Arthur later plays some Mozart music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was, of course, a music composer during the Classical period.

 

Phillip says the only card game he knows how to play is beggar-my-neighbour. This is a game similar to the card game war, played usually by children, particularly in England.

  

Memorable Dialog

 

Christmas Eve.mp3

Steel is definitely singing.mp3

long time know nothing.mp3

a tough nut just waiting to be cracked.mp3

he's very good with his hands.mp3

we're fascinated by time.mp3

a Steel without a Sapphire.mp3 

 

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