Andy Blake, or The Irish Diamond

Andy Blake, or The Irish Diamond is an Irish comedy in two acts by Dion Boucicault (1820-1890)[1].

Sometimes found simply as Andy Blake.

The original text

Said to have been founded either on the novel Le Gamin de Paris, ou L'enfant de Geneviève by Mme Fanny Richomme ... Paris [1837]" or on the dramatized version by Jean-François Alfred Bayard (1796-1853)[2]and Louis-Émile Vanderburch (1794-1862)[3], first performed 30 January 1836 at the Theatré de la Gymnase-Dramatique, Paris, as Le Gamin de Paris, a "comédie-vaudeville in 2 acts. The text published by Marchant in 1836.

Boucicault drew the plot from one or both of these works, but then turned the material into a virtually original Irish play.

First performed in the USA as Andy Blake, or The Irish Diamond on March 1,1854, at the Boston Museum, with Agnes Robinson in the leading role of the boy. Published as Andy Blake, or The Irish Diamond in New York by Samuel French, 1858. (No 110 of French's Minor Drama) and in London by John Dicks, [ca. 1860?] Dicks' standard plays ; no. 556

Afterwards called The Dublin Boy or The Irish Boy and performed as The Dublin Boy in London, 10 February, 1862.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1878: Performed on 3 April in the Theatre Royal in Cape Town by the Disney Roebuck company, with Constance Young in the cast. Also played was Adrift.

1878: Repeated on 4 April in the Theatre Royal in Cape Town by the Disney Roebuck company. Also played was British Born (Meritt and Pettitt).

1878: Performed on 15 July in the Theatre Royal in Cape Town by the Disney Roebuck company. Also played was Heroes (Edwardes). This evening a "Grand Comlimentary Benefit for Captain Roebuck".