Rose Pompon
Rose Pompon is a one act play or sketch by an anonymous author.
Contents
The original text
Clearly written for the American actress Minnie Palmer (1865 - 1936) with her skills as a coquettish actress (and possibly written by herself), the play is set in a French Marshal's quarters. A Red Cross sister asks for an audience as he is reviewing death warrants. She wants a reprieve for a man who has killed a man in a duel for a 'worthless woman' named Rose Pompon. When he leaves the room, it is discovered that the Red Cross sister is Rose, who has repented her ways. Under her cloak is an old stage costume and on the marshal's return she purrs and pouts and sings and dances and uses "tricks" to obtain the pardon, which he ultimately grants.
It seems to have been first performed in the USA in 1899 and in Northern Ireland in 1900
To date no printed version of the text has been traced.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1903: Performed by Minnie Palmer and a vaudeville company at the Opera House, Cape Town on 23 April.
Sources
http://societytopreservehistory.blogspot.com/2017/09/minnie-palmer-great-star-of-stage.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_Palmer
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: p.414
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