Governor von Brute, or Things as They Might Have Been

Governor von Brute, or Things as They Might Have Been is burlesque by B. Mollan.

Also referred to simply as as Governor von Brute and Things as They Might Have Been. Bosman also lists Dutch versions of the title: Governor van Brute, or Governor van Brute, or Things as They Might Have Been and Governor von Brute, or Things as They Might Have Been

The original text

Announced as "an inimitable burlesque, written expressly for Madame Duret" it was founded on and a response to local author Charles Utting's historical drama Governor van Noot, or Things as They Were (1866).

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1867: First performed by the Le Roy-Duret Company (now led by Madame Duret on her own) as part of the "Grand Re-opening" of the newly refurbished Theatre Royal, Harrington Street, Cape Town, on 10 June, with Mr and Mrs Peter White (Raymond). Repeated 13 June. Mollan's play featured Marie Duret as "Adeline van der Scoff" and Alfred Ray as "Governor von Brute" and was a great success with the public.

1867: Performed again by the Le Roy-Duret Company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 18 and 20 June, with A Dead Shot (Buckstone).

1867: Performed again by the Le Roy-Duret Company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 24 June, with Faint Heart Did Win Fair Lady (Wooler).

Sources

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 1932. (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.226-228, 293.

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