nature of the entertainment". The author F. Anstey recalled that in his Victorian childhood there was no question of being taken to a theatre, The stage was tiny because the long, narrow gallery could not accommodate a larger one. This restricted the Reeds to a cast of at most five performers. Much doubling of parts and quick changes were called for. The Era reported on a typical production in July 1868: Reed experimented with what he called chamber opera – opera di camera – simplified versions of operas for his usual small forces. The first was Jessy Lea (1863), a retelling of L'elisir d'amore, with words by John Oxenford and music by George Macfarren. After seven further productions of the same nature, with original music by Macfarren and Virginia Gabriel and adaptations of Offenbach and Michael Balfe the experiment came to an end. At the gallery the Reeds staged nine pieces by William Brough, seven by F. C. Burnand, and five by W. S. Gilbert, whose Ages Ago (1869, with music by Frederic Clay) was the Reeds' longest-running and most frequently revived production, narrowly outdistancing Burnand and Arthur Sullivan's Cox and Box. Other authors whose works were presented there included Shirley Brooks, Henry Chorley, James Planché, Robert Reece, T. W. Robertson, Bolton Rowe and Tom Taylor. Among the composers in addition to Reed, Parry, Macfarren, Sullivan, Gabriel and Clay were Alfred Cellier and James Molloy. The Reeds' lease of the gallery expired at the end of July 1873, and the building ceased to be used as a performance space. The programme for the last night there, on 31 July, comprised Mildred's Well; or A Romance of the Middle Ages by Burnand and Reed, Very Catching by Burnand and Molloy, and Our Garden Party by Corney Grain. The Reeds moved to St George's Hall at the opposite end of Regent Street; the gallery became the banqueting hall of the Pall Mall Restaurant, which occupied the site until 1883, when the building was leased by the new Constitutional Club. Legacy The historical importance of the gallery is chiefly its role in the early careers and development of leading authors, composers and performers. Several future stars had their start in the Reeds' company, including Arthur Cecil, Corney Grain and Fanny Holland. Few of the shows presented at the gallery have remained in the repertory. Gilbert's Ages Ago has been revived occasionally. Burnand and