Décoré

Décoré ("honoured") is a French comedy in 3 acts by Henri Meilhac (1830–1897)[1]

Also found as Decoré or Décoré! in some sources.

The original text

A play about marital infidelity, it was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre des Variétés, on 27 January 1888. Published in Paris by Calmann Lévy in 1894.

Translations and adaptations

Translated and adapted into English as The Cuckoo by Charles H. Brookfield (1857–1913)[2], the English version opened at the Avenue Theatre, London on 2 April, 1899 and closed on 26 May of the same year after 79 performances. It was simultaneously performed at Wallack's Theatre, New York on 3 April, 1899. A revised version was done in The Vaudeville theatre London in 1907.

Performance history in South Africa

1900: Performed in English as The Cuckoo by Joseph Ashman and a company (possibly that of Leonard Rayne) at the Opera House Cape Town.

Sources

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012509310

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

J.P. Wearing. 2013. The London Stage 1890-1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Revised edition. London:Scarecrow Press[3]

https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-cuckoo-404452

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, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: p.408

Go to ESAT Bibliography