'Charley's Aunt' — W. S. Penley, 1893

Ward's caricature presents William Sydney Penley — then the reigning comic sensation of London's theatre — in his street clothes rather than the famous drag costume of Charley's Aunt, Brandon Thomas's runaway farce that had opened at the Royalty in 1892 and would run 1,466 performances. The caption 'Charley's Aunt' names the role, not the man, a pointed joke: Penley's identity had been wholly consumed by the part. Ward exaggerates his slight, wiry frame, ruddy complexion, and knowing smirk, rendering him permanently mid-chuckle, bowler cocked, umbrella tucked, one hand on hip — the bearing of a man who knows the audience is already laughing.