 In addition to performing, Collette wrote a number of his own works, including the "successful romantic extravaganza" improbably titled "Cryptoconchoidsyphonostomata, or While It's to be Had".This play was on the bill at the Royalty Theatre, with Collette in the lead, when Gilbert and Sullivan's "Trial by Jury" was premiered in 1875.Collette's song from the piece, "What an Afternoon!