Quality Street

Quality Street is a comedy in four acts by J.M. Barrie (1860-1937)[1] .

The original text

Quality Street tells the story is about two sisters who start a school "for genteel children".

First produced in the USA by Charles Frohman and starring Maude Adams, it opened at the Valentine Theatre in Toledo, Ohio, on October 11, 1901, and then moved to the Knickerbocker Theatre, new York, on November 11, 1901. The Broadway production ran for only 64 performances.

In London it opened at the Vaudeville Theatre on 17 September 1902, with Ellaline Terriss, Seymour Hicks and Marion Terry and went on to run for 459 performances. , starring , played in London, and became a a hit, running for 459 performances. The play saw frequent revivals up to and even in World War II.

Translations and adaptations

The play was filmed in 1927, starring Marion Davies and again in 1937, with Katharine Hepburn.

It was adapted as a musical theatre piece called Dear Miss Phoebe by Christopher Hassall and Harry Parr Davies, that premiered in 1950.

Performance history in South Africa

1904: Performed for the first time in South Africa by Sass and Nelson company, performing inter alia at the Opera House, Cape Town, in August.

1941: Presented by Marda Vanne and Gwen ffrangçon-Davies starring Cecil Williams and Lydia Lindeque in 1941 in Cape Town and at the Standard Theatre Johannesburg.

1941: Presented by the University of Cape Town’s Speech and Drama Department and its University Dramatic Society at the Little Theatre in June, directed by Ruth Peffers.

196*?: Performed by Hoër Meisieskool Oranje in Bloemfontein, featuring Reza de Wet.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_Street_(play)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._Barrie

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.203-205

Trek, 12 September 1941, 16.

Inskip, Donald P. 1972. Forty Little Years: The Story of a Theatre. Cape Town: Howard Timmins: p.126.

Percy Tucker. 1997. Just the Ticket. My 50 Years in Show Business. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press: p.19.

Go to ESAT Bibliography