This article looks at the reception of the British interregnum of Java (1811–1816) in the theatre through a comparison of Jane Scott's pantomime The Poison Tree (1811), George Colman the Younger's melodrama The Law of Java (1822) and the case of ‘Princess Caraboo’, a Devonshire serving girl who posed as a princess from ‘Javasu’ in Bristol in 1817 and later performed the story of her career as an impostor on stage in America. The author examines these productions in their historical contexts, as well as later stagings, including the film Princess Caraboo (1994) starring Phoebe Cates, and the 2006 Royal Holloway production of The Law of Java. He suggests that not only did stage interpretations of Java offer a ground for imperial fantasy and virtual travel, but they also presented opportunities for the articulation of a range of contemporary issues related to class, gender, human rights and modes of governance.
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