This silk playbill was printed for a matinée performance at the Lyceum Theatre, 12 February 1884, of two plays by W.S.Gilbert. Silk playbills were often issued in the 19th century for special evenings at the theatre and this was one of two issued for this performance, identical apart from the colours of the print and the fringe. They may have been printed in different colours for the different parts of the theatre, but the playbills themselves give no clue to why they were printed in alternative colours.

The Lyceum was Irving's theatre at the time, but as he was on tour in America in the winter and spring of 1883 to 1884, Charles Abud was the acting manager. W.S.Gilbert was best known by 1884 for the operas he had written with Sullivan, although their most famous work The Mikado was not produced until 1885. Pygmalion & Galatea was a revival, originally seen at the Haymarket Theatre in 1871, but this was the first production of Comedy & Tragedy, which had opened at the Lyceum on 26th January. The playbill shows that Gilbert was the director for both of his plays at the Lyceum which starred the popular American actress Mary Anderson.