Brown and the Brahmins, or Captain Pop and The Princess Pretty-eyes!

Brown and the Brahmins, or Captain Pop and The Princess Pretty-eyes! is an "oriental burlesque" by Robert Brown Reece (1838–1891)[1]

Sometimes found as Brown and the Brahmins, or Captain Pop and The Princess Pretty-Eyes! or simply referred to as Brown and the Brahmins.

The original text

Based on the drama of the The Illustrious Stranger (Millingen and Kenney, 1827), and first performed at the Royal Globe Theatre, London, on 23 January, 1869. Published in London by T.H. Lacy, 1869.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1875: First performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Bijou Theatre on 24 July, as an afterpiece to Leah, or The Jewish Maiden (Mosenthal/Daly). The production included "An Ashantee Dance and Chorus" directed by Mr Elton and featured "a band of coloured boys picked from the the streets of Cape Town". The novelty of seeing coloured folk on the stage for the first time combined with their "extrvagant contortions of body and limb and grotesque action" apparently set audiences in a furore, though the idea was well received by The Argus on July 27 and the play was repeated a number of times in this season. The entry the entry for this date in F.C.L. Bosman (1980:p.325) is rather confusing however, giving the afterpiece as Brown and the Brahmins or Captain Pop and the Princess Pretty eyes (sic!) or The Illustrious Stranger" - i.e. giving the whole of burlesque's pedigree.

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 26 July, with Lady Audley's Secret.

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 28 July, as afterpiece to Black-Ey'd Susan (Burnand).

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 29 July, as afterpiece to The Honeymoon (Tobin).

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 31 July, as a matinee performance.

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 11 August, with Plot and Passion (Taylor and Lang).

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 14 August, with The Palace of Truth (Gilbert).

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 8 September, with Henry Dunbar (Taylor).

1876: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, on 6 June, with Flowers of the Forest (Buckstone).

1876: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, on 8 June, with East Lynne (Wood).

1876: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, on 9 June, with Pygmalion and Galatea (Gilbert).

1876: Performed ("positively the last time") by the Disney Roebuck company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, on 10 June, with The Green Bushes (Buckstone).

1877: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 2 August, with The Serious Family (Barnett).

1877: Performed by the Disney Roebuck company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 3 August, with Withered Leaves (Broughton).