 During this period, also, Gilbert occasionally wrote plays to be performed elsewhere–both serious dramas (for example "[[The Ne'er-Do-Weel]]", 1878; and [[Gretchen (play)|Gretchen]], 1879) and humorous works (for example "[[Foggerty's Fairy]]", 1881).However, he no longer needed to turn out multiple plays each year, as he had done before.Indeed, during the more than nine years that separated "The Pirates of Penzance" and "The Gondoliers", he wrote just three plays outside of the partnership with Sullivan.