Djin-Djin

Djin-Djin is the abbreviated name given to a Christmas pantomime written by Bert Royle[1] and J. C. Williamson[2], with music composed by Leon Caron[3] and George F. Pack.

Not to be confused with Djin Djin, a 2007 song and album composed by Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo and Jean Hebrail[4]

The original text

Described as "A Fairy Tale of Old Japan", the full title of the published work is Djin-Djin, the Japanese Bogie Man, or The Great Shogun Who Lost his Son and the Little Princess Who Found Him. Also found as The Great Shogun Who Lost his Son and the Little Princess Who Found Him, but it is usually referred to by the abbreviated title in various guises: Djin-Djin, Djin Djin, Djinn-Djinn, etc.

It was first produced by Williamson and Musgrove in the Princess Theatre, Melbourne from 26 December 1895 to 14 February 1896, and was an enormous hit in Sydney and Melbourne.

Text re-published by the British Library, in its Historical Print Editions series in 2011[5]

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1903: Performed as Djin Djin by the Royal Australian Opera Company in the Good Hope Theatre, Cape Town, during May and again in December, directed by Tom Pollard.

1903: Performed as Djin Djin by the Royal Australian Opera Company as the opening production for the newly built His Majesty's Theatre, Johannesburg on 8 August.

Sources

https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A57554

http://www.hat-archive.com/DjinDjin.htm

https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/514138

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollard%27s_Lilliputian_Opera_Company

https://ozvta.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/royle-bert-722014.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._Williamson

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/caron-leon-francis-victor-3167

https://www.amazon.co.za/Djin-Djin-Japanese-Bogie-Christmas-Pantomime/dp/1241242720

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djin_Djin

D.C. Boonzaier. 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.

Greyvenstein, Walter 1988. The history and development of children's theatre in English in South Africa. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Johannesburg: Rand Afrikaans University.

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