East Lynne

East Lynne is the title used for a number stage plays and films, based on the novel by Ellen Wood (1814-1887)[1].

The original text

The original tale derives from Ellen Wood's sensation novel, a Victorian best-seller with an elaborate and melodramatic plot, involving infidelity and double identities. East Lynne was initially serialised in The New Monthly Magazine between January 1860 and September 1861, before being published as a three-volume novel on 19 September 1861.

There have been numerous stage and film adaptations of this tale over the years. The various stage versions are difficult to separate, since many companies used a version of the novel as a stock work, guaranteed to draw audiences, and often employed the original title. We therefore list all South African productions using the title below.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into Afrikaans as East Lynne by Jean Plaat-Stultjes

Performance history in South Africa

All performances of a stage version in South Africa are listed below and elsewhere. Where appropriate the work is usually credited to Wood. Since there were many versions, the name of the adaptor is only also given where actually known.

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company early in the year, as part of their repertoire while in Port Elizabeth and the Eastern Province, before the company returned to open in Cape Town. The leads in the Roebuck productions in 1875 were performed by Disney Roebuck and Miss Berenger.

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 17 and 18 March, accompanied on the second night by Perfection (Bayly) and a dance by Maggie Duggan.

1875: Performed ("by special request") by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 24 March, with The Loan of a Lover (Planché).

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 1 April, with The Rows of Castille (Edwardes).

1875: Performed ("by special request") by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 8 April, with The Old Man's Darling, or a Peep behind the Scenes (Anon.).

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 15 April, with The Pilgrim of Love (Byron).

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 29 April, with A Quiet Family (Suter).

1875: Performed ("at the request of Lady Barkly") by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 4 June, with The Rough Diamond (Buckstone).

1875: Performed ("for the last time") by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 5 August, with Aladdin (Anon.). The evening a benefit for the Manoque family, the father having been killed while working as a train guard on the Wynberg railway line.

1876: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, on 5 May and 2 June, with A Quiet Family (Suter). The leads in the Roebuck productions during the 1876 season were now performed by Disney Roebuck and Hilda Temple (who replaced Miss Berenger).

1876: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, on 5 June, with an "Italian Ballet"[2] by "Signors Maggi and Nulli".

1876: Performed ("positively last time") by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, on 8 June, with Brown and the Brahmins (Reece).

1877: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 4 August.

1877: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 8 August, with The Goose with the Golden Eggs (Mayhew and Edwards)

1877: Performed ("by desire") by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 3 September.

1877: Performed ("for the last time") by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 7 September, with Perfection (Bayly)

1877: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 7 September, with what Bosman (1980:p.363) refers to as The Temptation (Townsend)

1877: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 6 December, with Aunt Charlotte's Maid (Morton)

1878: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 16 February, with William Tell with a Vengeance, or The Pet the Parrot and the Pippin (Byron)

1878: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 13 July, with Jack and Jack's Brother (Johnstone)

1878: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 16 July, with Sarah's Young Man (Suter)

1878: Performed by Miss Egerton and Mr Case with their company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, on 28 and 29 August, The cast also included Ada Ward, Emmeline Montague and Tom Paulton.

1882: According to the reminiscences of the theatre reviewer D.C. Boonzaier (1923) it was performed by an unnamed company in the Burg Street Theatre, Cape Town, during the summer.

1884-5: Performed by the Henry Harper Company in the new Theatre Royal, Cape Town, as part of Henry Harper's first season as lessee and manager of the venue.

1892: Performed by the Emilie Bevan Comedy Company in the Vaudeville Theatre, Cape Town, as part of their three and a half month season, starting on 8 August.

1898: Performed by Leonard Rayne and his wife Amy Grace on their first visit to South Africa, and - according to Boonzaier (1923) - the play became a popular standard in his regular repertoire over the years, called for by the public every season he toured the country.

February 1901: East Lynne was staged in the Port Elizabeth Opera House, by the Joseph Ashman Company by arrangement with Leonard Rayne.

1909: Produced by Leonard Rayne and his company. It was part of their repertoire of four plays, opening at the Standard Theatre, Johannesburg, and then touring the various cities, including a performances at the Opera House, Cape Town, in October.

1910: Produced by Leonard Rayne and his company, as part of their repertoire of six plays, opening at the Standard Theatre, Johannesburg, and then touring the various cities, including a performances at the Opera House, Cape Town, in April. The cast included Amy Coleridge.

1923: Boonzaier (1923) notes an announcement for a performance of the play in the Opera House, Cape Town, during August, by an unnamed company.

circa 1930: Taken on tour by the Plaat-Stultjes Geselskap as East Lynne, in a stage version translated into Afrikaans and produced by Jean Plaat-Stultjes.

Sources

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

Ludwig Wilhelm Berthold Binge. 1969. Ontwikkeling van die Afrikaanse toneel (1832-1950). Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: p. 174

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. 322-365, 371-2, 380. 395, 415, 429, 431-3, 438-9.

Go to ESAT Bibliography