L'escamoteur

L'escamoteur ("The juggler") is a play in five acts by Adolphe d'Ennery (1811-1899)[1] and Jules Brésil (1818-1899)[2]

The original text

First performed at the Théâtre de la Gaité, Paris, October 12th, 1860 and published in Paris by Michél Levy Frères in the same year.

Translations and adaptations

Adapted into English a drama in three acts by Thomas William Robertson (1829-1871) and first performed at the Royal Adelphi Theatre, London, as Magloire, the Prestigiator on 1 April 1861, with Benjamin N. Webster as "Magloire". Later renamed Jocrisse the Juggler and the text published under that title by T.H. Lacy.

This in turn was the basis of A Noble Outcast, a drama in four acts by John Arthur Fraser (1838-1898). Originally performed in 1888, it was published in Chicago by the Dramatic Publishing Company in 1896 (Sergel's acting drama, no. 429).

It may also have been the same play as the one billed simply as Outcast by a company touring South Africa in 1919.

Performance history in South Africa

1866: Performed as Jocrisse the Juggler in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by the Leroy and Duret company on 20 and 25 September, with the ballet version of Don Juan.

1919: A play billed as Outcast was performed by a company touring South Africa in 1919, with a cast that included Hilda Attenboro. It was most probably the company headed by Claude Dampier and his wife, Irene Vere which was active in the region from 1917 to 1921.