The Loan of a Lover

The Loan of a Lover is a vaudeville in one act by James Robinson Planché (1796-1880)[1]

The original text

Originally performed at the Olympic Theatre, London in and then at the Park Theatre, New York. Published in 1847 by W. Taylor & co., New York, as No IV in The Minor Drama series.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1858: First performed by Sefton Parry and his company in the Cape Town Theatre, Harrington Street, Cape Town, on 16 March, as an afterpiece to Money, or Rich and Poor (Bulwer-Lytton) and "the celebrated romance of Jock Rugg with the celebrated Burlesque of Statues", sung by J.E.H. English.

1861: Performed by Sefton Parry and his company in the Theatre Royal, Harrington Street, Cape Town, on 8 July, as an afterpiece to Rob Roy Macgregor, or Auld Lang Syne (Pocock).

1861: Performed by Sefton Parry and his company in the Theatre Royal, Harrington Street, Cape Town, on 18 July, as afterpiece to Little Bo-Peep, or Harlequin and the Little Girl who Lost her Sheep

1867: Performed by the Le Roy and Duret company in the Theatre Royal, Harrington Street, Cape Town, on 4 November, as an afterpiece to The Woman in White (Collins) and the "Grand Scarf", a dance by Miss Clara.

1867: Performed by the Le Roy and Duret company in the Theatre Royal, Harrington Street, Cape Town, on 9 December, as an afterpiece to The Snake in the Grass (Taylor) and a "new" dance by Miss Clara.

1868: Performed by the Le Roy and Duret company in the Commercial Exchange, Cape Town, on 3 Fabruary, with The Waterman (Dibdin) and songs by D'Arcy Read and Mr Toogood. The evening a benefit for Elsie Sidney and D'Arcy Read.

1874: Performed on 23 and 26 January in the Mutual Hall, Cape Town by the Disney Roebuck company, with Lady Audley's Secret (Hazlewood).

1874: Performed on 28 January in the Mutual Hall, Cape Town by the Disney Roebuck company, with The Serious Family (Bayard & Wailly/Barnett).

1874: Performed on 29 January in the Mutual Hall, Cape Town by the Disney Roebuck company, with Lady Audley's Secret (Hazlewood).

1874: Performed in the Oddfellows Hall, Cape Town, on 21 February by Disney Roebuck and his company, with Caste (Robertson).

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 24 March, with East Lynne (Wood).

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 17 September , with Arrah-na-Pogue, or The Wicklow Wedding (Boucicault).

1877: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 24 September as part of a "Grand Military Night" with the orchestra of the 88th Regiment of the Connaught Rangers, with Grandfather's Darling (Gurney), The Post-boy (Craven) and two ballads, i.a. by Miss Wynne. (Actually, according to Bosman, 1980: p. 360, the supporting programme consisted of a single play, billed as Grandfather's Darling, or The Post-boy, but Bosman most probably conflated the two short plays in this case - elsewhere he has them as separate works).

1877: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 5 October, with The Marble Heart (Lambert-Thiboust and Barrière/Selby) - the latter play featuring Sutton Vane.

1878: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 9 May, with Robinson Crusoe (Defoe/Byron).

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Planch%C3%A9

Facsimile version of the 1847 edition by Taylor and Co., The Internet Archive[2]

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.69, 98, 230-6, 311-3, 322m 327, 330, 360-1, 368

Go to ESAT Bibliography