The Thimble Rig!

The Thimble Rig! is a farce in one act by John Baldwin Buckstone (1802-1879).

(Also referred to simply as Thimble Rig or (the) Thimble-rig.)

The original text
The thimble rig in the title refers to what is also known as the "shell game", a sleight-of-hand a confidence game in the victim takes a bet that he can find under one of three thimblelike cups that the operator has shuffled about.

First published in London at the National Acting Drama Office in 1837. It was performed by the author and his company on 3 October, 1844, at the Haymarket Theatre, though apparently to no great acclaim.

Performance history in South Africa
1851: Performed as Thimble Rig in the Garrison Theatre by the Amateur Company on Wednesday 3 December, as afterpiece to Caesar de Bazan, or Love and Honour (Webster and Boucicault). The performance was in aid of "(S)ufferers by the Kaffir War" (i.e. the British colonial war against the Xhosa being fought on the eastern border of the Cape Province in the period).

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