The Green Bushes, or A Hundred Years Ago

The Green Bushes, or A Hundred Years Ago is a popular melodrama in three acts John Baldwin Buckstone (1802– 1879)[1]

Also known as The Green Bushes, or Ireland a Hundred Years Ago, The Green Bushes or in one case simply referred to as Green Bushes.

The original text

It opened in the Adelphi Theatre, London on January 27th, 1845, and was considered as one of the highlights of the old Adelphi Theatre repertoire.

Published as The Green Bushes, or A Hundred Years Ago, an original drama in three acts by Samuel French in 1856[2].

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1860: Performed as The Green Bushes, or A Hundred Years Ago by Sefton Parry and company in the Harrington Street Theatre, , Cape Town on 8 June, with a "Pas de Sylphide" by Miss Powell. The scenery was done by Thomas Baines and evening a benefit for Mrs Sefton Parry.

1861: Performed as Green Bushes by Sefton Parry and company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town on 10 June, with The Lottery Ticket, or the Lawyer's Clerk (Beazley)

1862: Performed as The Green Bushes in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by Sefton Parry and company on 27 February, with The Boots at the Swan (Selby), as a benefit for John Howard.

1866: Performed in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town by the Le Roy and Duret Company on 7 and 9 May, as The Green Bushes with Sam's Arrival (Oxenford).

1866: Performed in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town by the Le Roy and Duret Company on 17 May, as The Green Bushes with The Actress Of All Work, or My Country Cousin (Buckstone).

1867: Performed as Green Bushes by "Le Roy's Original Company", in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on 3 January, with Found in a Four-wheeler (Williams) as afterpiece.

1867: Performed as The Green Bushes by "Le Roy's Original Company", in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on 5 February ("Special Bespeak: Grand Fashionable Night"), with a "Negro Song and Dance" by A. Ray and Cramond Brig () as afterpiece.

1876: Performed as The Green Bushes by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, on 10 June, with Brown and the Brahmins (Reece).

Sources

Facsimile version of the 1856 publication, Hathitrust Digital Library[3]

Jacky Bratton. 2011. The Making of the West End Stage: Marriage, Management and the Mapping of Gender in London, 1830–1870. Cambridge University Press[4]

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 79, 87, 91, 97, 100, 111, 180, 201-210, 220-222, 324, 340, 359.

Go to ESAT Bibliography