Don Juan

Don Juan is the name of a fictional character about whom many literary and other works have been created.

= The character =

The original creation
The character Don Juan was created by Spanish playwright, Tirso de Molina, in his 1630 play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra ("The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest"), and the name of the character has since become common metaphor for concepts such as "libertine", "seducer" and "womaniser".

English titles for the De Molina play include The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest, The Seducer of Seville and the Stone Guest and The Playboy of Seville and the Stone Guest.

Various versions of the Don Juan myth
Besides Tirso de Molina's initial version, there have been numerous works written and produced about the character and tapping into the notion of the "Don Juan" in society.

Titles containing the name Don Juan
Below are the titles (with links) to a number of texts or adaptations bearing the title Don Juan, using Don Juan, or a person with Don Juan-like characteristics, as a character; which were produced in, or have links with, South Africa.

(For many other examples see for instance Armand E. Singer's excellent 1993 bibliography and Oscar Mandel's useful 1986 book, both listed under "Sources" below.).

For more information on these plays, especially South African performances of the texts, go to the particular entry by clicking on the appropriate item.

Dom Juan, ou Le Festin de Pierre (Molière, 1665).

Don Giovanni (Mozart and Da Ponte, 1787)

Don Juan, or The Libertine Destroyed (Delpini, 1790).

Little Don Giovanni, or Leporello and the Stone Statue (J.H. Byron, 1865)

Don Juan in Hell (George Bernard Shaw, 1907)

Don Juan oder Die Liebe zur Geometrie (Max Frisch, 1953)

Don Juan onder die Boere (Bartho Smit, 1960)

Don Juan or 'The Nightmare of Venus' (Chris Pretorius)

Don Gxubane Onner die Boere (Charles Fourie)

Other titles, but also based on the Don Juan myth
The Libertine (Thomas Shadwell, 1676)

The Joker of Seville (Derek Walcott, 1974).

Don Juan by Lord Byron
This was a satiric poem by Lord Byron, based on the legend of Don Juan, which Byron reverses, portraying Juan not as a womaniser but as someone easily seduced by women.

Translations and adaptations
Adapted for the stage by Roberta Durrant

Performances in South Africa
1980: Performed as a play at the Market Theatre Upstairs in June, directed by Roberta Durrant, with Vanessa Cooke, Nigel Daly, David Eppel, Janice Honeyman and Terry Norton. Lighting designs were by John White-Spunner, choreography by Dinah Eppel, and stage management by Margaret Ramsay.

Don Juan by Max Frisch
This is the Afrikaans title used for Don Juan oder Die Liebe zur Geometrie, a German comedy in five acts by Max Frisch (1911-1991).

Translated into Afrikaans as Don Juan by Nerina Ferreira in 1974 and performed in 1975 by CAPAB starring Jana Cilliers.

See Don Juan oder Die Liebe zur Geometrie for more details on the the original play, the translation and productions.

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