Die Zauberin Sidonia

Die Zauberin Sidonia ("The sorceress Sidionia") is a four-act historical German play by Heinrich Zschokke (1771–1848)[1].

The original text

Published in Berlin by Friedrich Maurer, 1798. Appears to have first been performed in 1797, and was often performed in the early 19th century, inter alia in the Deutsches Theater Dusseldorff under the expanded (and variable) title of Das rächende Gewissen, oder: Die Zauberin Sidonia in 1806, and Die Zauberin Sidonia, oder: Das rächende Gewissen in 1810 , 1811 and 1928.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into Dutch as De Tooveres Sidonia Martinus Gerardus Engelman (1772-1823)[2] and published in Amsteldam by H. van Kesteren, 1799.

Bosman gives two versions of the Dutch title, calling it De Tooveres Sidonia in his first volume (1928), but De Tooveres Sydonia in the second (1980). The latter could of course simply have been an error made by the particular companies that performed it in South Africa in 1873 and 1883.

Performances in South Africa

1851: Performed in Dutch, in the translation by Engelman, on 23 October 1851 by Tot Oefening en Vermaak in the Garrison Theatre, with as afterpiece De Kalkoen van Breda, of Menig Voordeel Komt Onverwacht (Van Ray) , as a charity performance in aid of those who suffered as a result of what was then known as the "Kaffir War" of 1851.

1851: Repeated in Dutch by Tot Oefening en Vermaak on 13 November, again in the Garrison Theatre in Cape Town, this time with De Geveinsde Zotheid door Liefde (Regnard) as afterpiece .

1873: Produced in Dutch as De Tooveres Sydonia by the amateur company Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst on in the Odd Fellow's Hall, Cape Town, with as afterpiece Het Hoogste Lot ( Hagemeister/Verstolk).

1883: Performed in Dutch as De Tooveres van Sydonia by De Eendracht in the Oddfellows Hall, Cape Town, on 8 February and 26 April, with Ijverzucht (Wijnstok).