Bluettes Franco-Nataliennes

From ESAT
(Redirected from The Natal Bluetts)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The Bluettes Franco-Nataliennes is series of monthly publications by C.E.Boniface (1787 – 1853).

The series title also occurs as De Natal Bluetts in Dutch, The Natal Bluetts or The Natal Bluettes in English (the latter two titles cited from William Groom, 1899 p. 479).


The original texts

The full title for the series, as cited by F.C.L. Bosman (1928: p. 510), is: "Bluettes franco-natalienmes; ou recueil de contes, fables et autres petites pieces en verse et en prose à l'usage des etudians et des amateurs de la langue française dans le pays de Natal."

Written (1846-1849*??) in verse and prose and in dramatic form and including songs and music. Though containing satiric and barbed commentary, they were primarily intended to make his students and the public conversant with French, even though some of the pieces were also in Dutch (Myn Ouwe Snoek in de Pekel) and English (Paddiscordion).

No 2 of the series for example had the title: Le Latanier, the sub-title La Mort du Latanier et la metamorphose de ses feuilles en papilotes and is described as a "vaudeville à grand spectacle" in two parts.

South African performances

No record of performances have been found, though they most probably were performed on occasion by amateurs or school children, as part of their classes or training in French.

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [1]: pp. 121, 124, 269, 496

Groom, William 1899. "Drama in Cape Town". Cape Illustrated Magazine, 10(4): p. 479

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Return to

Return to PLAYS I: Original SA plays

Return to PLAYS II: Foreign plays

Return to PLAYS III: Collections

Return to PLAYS IV: Pageants and public performances

Return to South African Festivals and Competitions

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page