The Prodigal Son

There are a large number of plays, poems, novels, films etc entitled The Prodigal Son. Below we list plays performed in South Africa at some time.

(For a list of works by this name, see the Wikipedia entry on "The Prodigal Son (disambiguation)" [1]).

L'Enfant Prodigue - The French original

L'Enfant Prodigue (Voltaire) is a 1736 play by Voltaire, and the title has also been used for various adaptations, musicals and burlesques based on it - including the stage play L'Enfant Prodigue by Michel Carré Fils and André Wormser (1890). (The French title actually means "the prodigal child" of course.)

For performances of these works, go to the entry on L'Enfant Prodigue, for plays specifically called "(The) Prodigal Son", see below:

The Prodigal Son, a play by Hall Caine (1905)

The original text

Caine's play was based on his own best-selling novel, originally published in November 1904 by Heinemann and translated into thirteen languages.

The first performance took place in the Grand Theatre, Douglas, Isle of Man, early in 1905, and American and British productions soon followed in the same year, the first opening at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. on 28 August, followed by a production at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City on 4 September and another at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London on 7 September.

Performance history in South Africa

1906: Performed as The Prodigal Son by Leonard Rayne and his company, featuring Freda Godfrey in her first appearance on the South African stage.

Sources

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prodigal_Son_(Hall_Caine_novel)

Go to ESAT Bibliography