ISBN: 1-886967-10-5

$50.00 U.S. Postpaid

Izaak Walton
A Drama In Four Parts

by Charles Dance, Esq.
Introduction by Hoagy Carmichael

First produced for the stage in 1839 in London, this is the only known English language play ever performed with an angling theme. This is not simply a dramatized version of The Complete Angler, but rather, it is the engaging and unfolding story of a particular day in the life of Izaak Walton - presented here amusingly, a bit out of character. It is funny, clever, crisp and biting, utilizing all the elements of farce and melodrama: mistaken identity, the imperiled heroine, the bad guys (Gypsies) and the savior, Father Izaak (of course).

Along the way we have Izaak providing instruction on the art of angling to a young Templar (lawyer) and we find that dear old Izaak has some rather tart ideas concerning lawyers: "... the besetting sin of all young lawyers is too great a proness to make long speeches upon slight occasions."
This is a very pleasurable tour through Walton's rural, idyllic,
seventeenth-century England. 

The book is illustrated with magnificent steel engravings of the period, and Hoagy Carmichael provides excellent commentary on the theatre, Victorian drama, and the enduring legend of Izaak Walton.

Hoagy B. Carmichael is well-known to most. He is a fine angler, author, bamboo fly rod designer and builder, and a Broadway producer. He is currently developing and original stage piece, "Hoagland," featuring his late father's iconic music. It is bound for the Great White Way.

Reviews 

Fly Rod & Reel
The Magazine of American Fly-Fishing
January/February 2001

By Seth Norman

What a pleasant surprise. Izaak Walton: A Drama in Four Parts comes from way out of left field-or the 19th Century, which now lies somewhere beyond the bleachers. It's a comedy of manners, a 160-year-old version of Three's Company, with fishing! Here's Hoagy Carmichael summing it up nicely:
"When I was first shown this very delicate, beautifully bound play, I was surprised to find what I believe to be the only play even partially devoted to my love of thirty-five years: fishing. . . written in 1839, by Charles Dance Esq., an attorney, and a member of the Dramatic Authors Society. ... The play has all the ingredients any good melodrama needs: a beautiful maiden, a dashing young suitor (a Templar, lawyer, by trade) who is interested in her hand, and bad guys [gypsies].... Of course there is Iz Wa himself, in the middle of all the activity ... [who] tests [the Templar's] mettle as a fisherman, and tangentially, as a suitable companion for the heroine....
And-ta da-it's probably a musical! Frankly, I had no idea this existed, and though my life is not entirely changed, I smiled to wander the kind of frothy literature I last read in college. The story's typical of those romances I remember: boy woos girl, they scheme, adopt impossible disguises, are threatened, rescued, united-the world's a better place, or at least England is improved over perfection (except for wretched gypsies).
A light snack, in other words. But for those who endured History of English Literature, or for whom fly-fishing history is an abiding interest, this is a kick, rather like finding the portrait of an ancestor on the face of a new coin. For those not so inclined, well, shoot, the least I can do is share with you "The Angler's Song," sung by Izaak himself as rendered by Dance:

Man's life is but vain
For tis subject to pain
And sorrow, and short as a bubble;
'Tis a hodge-podge of business
And money and care-
And care and money and trouble.

But we'll take no care
When the weather proves fair,
Nor will we vex tho' it rain;
We'll banish all sorrow,
And sing till to-morrow,
And angle and angle again!

Try it to the tune of "Wild Thing." Maybe you can get it to work. Cheers to Meadow Run for finding us this bit, which livened the hour.

Gray's Sporting Journal
Volume Twenty-six     Issue 1     February/March 2001

By Christopher Camuto

William Trego is a truant publisher. His Meadow Run Press is devoted to producing very fine limited editions of distinctive works of unlimited angling interest. His most recent offering takes us back to Izaak Walton by way of one Charles Dance, Esq., whose 1839 drama, Izaak Walton (hardbound, $50), celebrates Walton's sensibility and character in a musical romantic comedy. This brief work, introduced by Hoagy Carmichael, has substance equal to its wit and whimsicality.


Dance creates a fictional Izaak Walton who is a useful and entertaining figure in this playful four-act drama of life and love nearly gone awry. The play is a minor footnote to Walton's significance and influence: Dance's Walton is frank and fair, peaceful and forthright, sensible and romantic-in short, a worldly man who casts a skeptical but hopeful eye on the ways of the world. Dance's drama gently suggests that the character of the complete angler is useful to society, that the values of angling-it's virtues and habits of mind -may sometimes help set some things right. The sensibility of the angler helps life run smoothly-or at least helps life run smoother than it would if we never angled.