The Miller and his Men

The Miller and his Men is a title found for two 19th century theatrical works

=The Miller and his Men by Pocock and Bishop=

The original text
The Miller and his Men is a popular English romantic melodrama, in two acts by Isaac Pocock (1782–1835), with music by Henry R. Bishop (1786–1855)

(The author's name also printed "J. Pocock" on some editions and an listed thus by Bosman, 1928).

Translations and adaptations
Parodied by Talfourd and Byron as a "burlesque mealy-drama in one act" in 1860, using the same title.

Performance history in South Africa
1818: Performed in the African Theatre by the Gentlemen Amateurs and Mr Cooke and his company, on 5 September, as afterpiece to The Birth Day (O'Keeffe), and again on 26 September (as afterpiece to Pixérécourt's The Wandering Boys, with an interlude of two songs sung by Mr Pitt  and "The Bird Duet" ( from Dibdin's  comic opera  The Cabinet, with music by J. Braham), sung by Mr Cooke and Mrs Cooke).

1828: Performed on the January in the African Theatre by the Gentlemen Amateurs, as afterpiece to  The Irish Tutor (Glengall).

1836: Performed on 3 August in the African Theatre by the Gentlemen Amateurs, as afterpiece to She Stoops to Conquer (Goldsmith), and repeated on 23 September 1836 as afterpiece to The Poor Gentleman.

1843: According to William Groom (1899: p 518) a performance of the play was offered by an unnamed English company in the Roeland Street Theatre some time in 1843. It was followed by a farce.

1861: Performed on 3 August in the Garrison Theatre by the Garrison Players ("the non-commissioned officers and men of the 11th Regiment") in aid of the "Distressed Lancashire Operatives", with as afterpiece to  A Kiss in the Dark, with a group of eight African Minstrels performing as an interlude. The person in charge of arrangements is Colour Sergeant Heaven.

=The Miller and his Men by Talfourd and Byron=

The original text
The Miller and his Men is a "burlesque mealy-drama in one act" by Francis Talfourd (1828–1862) and Henry James Byron (1835–1884).

A parody of the well-known Pocock and Bishop play, it was first performed at the Royal Strand Theatre, London on 9 April 1860.

Published by T.H. Lacy.

Performance history in South Africa
1867: According to Bosman (1980: p. 221), this burlesque was probably the work performed by Le Roy's Original Company in the Theatre Royal on 11 March, with Catching an Heiress.

= Sources =

F.C.L. Bosman. 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. : pp. 155, 192, 196, 417.

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 167, 221

William Groom 1899. "Drama in Cape Town". Cape Illustrated Magazine, 10(4): p. 518.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Pocock

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Bishop_(composer)

http://garrisontheatricals.com/category/history/

Facsimile version of the 1860 text, The Digital Archive

Simon Dentith.2002.Parody in the series The New Critical Idiom, Routledge: p. 148.

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