Nobody's Child

Nobody's Child is a romantic drama in three acts by Watts Phillips (1825-1874)[1].

The original text

A melodrama about a foundling who saves a beautiful young heiress from the clutches of a conniving young Captain and her old guardian.

Opened at the Surrey Theatre, London on 14 September 1867; in New York City 11 April, 1871.

Published in London by L.C. Lacy in 1868(?), later also by Samuel French.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1875: Performed as Nobody's Child by the Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 10 and 15 July, with Hercules, King of Clubs (Cooper) as afterpiece. The cast included Tom Paulton as the unscrupulous guardian and company's the stage manager, Sutton Vane, as the foundling. The spectacular scene paintings were done by W. Thorne.

1876: Performed as Nobody's Child in the Theatre Royal, Burg Street, Cape Town, by the Disney Roebuck company on 10 August, with The Boots at the Swan (Selby).

1877: Performed as Nobody's Child in the Theatre Royal, Burg Street, Cape Town, by the Disney Roebuck company on 8 and 13 December, in the latter case with a ballad by Miss Wynne.

Sources

Allardyce Nicoll. 2009. History of English Drama, 1660-1900, Volume 5, Part 2. Cambridge University Press: p. 523[2]

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

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. 325, 328, 332-4, 342, 346, 363.

William Groom. 1899-1900. Drama in Cape Town. Cape Illustrated Magazine, 10(4): 478-481, 517-520, 547-552, 580-584, 640-643, 670-672, 706-708.

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