Robinson Crusoe, or Harlequin Friday and the King of the Caribee Islands!

Robinson Crusoe, or Harlequin Friday and the King of the Caribee Islands! is a burlesque by Henry J. Byron (1835-1884)

The original text

This is one of three works written (or co-written) by Byron, all based on Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe (1719). The others are a burlesque called Robinson Crusoe, or The Injun Bride and the Injured Wife (1867), and a pantomime called Robinson Crusoe, or Friday and the Fairies (1868).

Robinson Crusoe, or Harlequin Friday and the King of the Caribee Islands! is described as a "grotesque pantomime opening", invented and written by Henry James Byron". Also referred to as a burlesque in the Samuel French edition.

First performed at the Royal Princess's Theatre on the 26th of December, 1860, and published by Samuel French

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1861: Performed as Robinson Crusoe or The King of the Caribbee Islands by Sefton Parry and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 26, 27 and 29 August, with The Post Boy (Craven).

1861: Performed in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by Sefton Parry and company as Robinson Crusoe, or The King of the Caribbee Islands on 16 September, with The Chimney Corner, or A True Story (Craven).

Sources

Facsimile version of the S. French edition of 1860, Hathi Thrust Digital Library[1]

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. 98-100, 107-8

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