View source for Trente Ans, ou La Vie d'un Joueur

''[[Trente Ans, ou La Vie d'un Joueur]]'' ("thirty years, or the life of gambler") is a melodrama by Victor Ducange (1783-1833)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Henri_Joseph_Brahain_Ducange] and Dinaux (1795-1859)[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosper_Goubaux]. 

== The original text ==

Originally written by Jacques Félix Beudin[http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_F%C3%A9lix_Beudin] and Prosper Goubaux (1795-1859)[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosper_Goubaux], using the pseudonym "Dinaux", and then reworked by Victor Ducange (1783-1833)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Henri_Joseph_Brahain_Ducange]. Described as a "Mélodrame en trois journées" ("A melodrama in three days"). 

It was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, on 19 June 1827,with Frédérick Lemaître in the lead. Music by Alexandre Piccini, entertainment ("''divertissement''") by Corally and décor by Lefebvre. 

Published in Paris by Barba in 1827, credited to "MM Victor Ducange et Dinaux" only, with no mention of the original co-author, Jacques Félix Beudin. The play became quite a success and was republished and performed many times, right into the 20th century. A film was made of it in 1975.

==Translations and adaptations==

Translated into English as ''[[The Gambler's Fate, or A Lapse of Twenty Years]]''  ) and adapted as a drama in two acts  by Charles Thompson. (Also known simply as ''[[The Gambler's Fate]]''.) The English translation was hugely popular during the mid 18th century in London. First published in 1827(?) by J. Cumberland. 

Translated into [[Dutch]] as ''[[Dertig Jaren, of Het Leven van een Dobbelaar]]''. Apparently, according to documents in the [[Dutch]] archival collection "Stukken betreffende leden van de families Vitringa en Van Delden"[http://www.archieven.nl/nl/zoeken?mivast=0&mizig=210&miadt=45&miaet=1&micode=1333&minr=922381&miview=inv2], it was copied from the first performance by A.J. van Delden Stevenz and his text is subtitled "Melodrama in drie tijdperken". 

However the first published [[Dutch]] translation, as ''[[Dertig Jaren, of Het Leven van een Dobbelaar]]'', is credited to Bernard Anthoine Fallée (1773-1847)[http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Anthoine_Fall%C3%A9e], subtitled a "tooneelspel, dat in drie dagen afspeelt" ("a play which takes place in three days") and published in Amsterdam by J.C. van Kesteren, 1828.

== Performance history in South Africa ==

According to [[F.C.L. Bosman]] (1928, p 213), its first production  in Cape Town on 5 June  by [[H. Booth]] and [[All the World's a Stage]] led to a great deal of critique for the presentation and the text, which the critic of the ''[[Commercial Advertiser]]'' said was "a clumsy adaptation from the German". In response "A British Amateur", writing in the ''[[De Zuid-Afrikaan]]'',  stated (correctly) that it was in fact an "almost literal translation" of the French play ''[[La Vie d'un Joueur]]''.  However, despite the criticism, it seems to have been to everyone's taste. 

1830: Performed in English as ''[[The Gambler's Fate]]'' by [[H. Booth]] and [[All the World's a Stage]] on 5 June, with ''[[The Miller's Maid]]'' (Saville) as afterpiece. 

1830: Repeated by popular demand in English as ''[[The Gambler's Fate]]'' by [[H. Booth]] and [[All the World's a Stage]] on 19 June, with ''[[Charles the Second, or The Merry Monarch]]'' (Payne)  on 19 June. 

1835: Performed in English as ''[[The Gambler's Fate, or A Lapse of Twenty Years]]'' by the [[Private Amateur Company]] on 25 May, with a play named as ''[[Mr Thompson, or Which is He?]]'' (Anon) as afterpiece. The performance was a benefit for [[Mr Whiley]].

1836: Performed in [[Dutch]] by [[Tot Nut en Vermaak]] on 28 October in Cape Town, with as afterpiece to ''[[Der Deserteur|De Deserteur]]'' (Von Kotzebue).

1837: Performed in [[Dutch]] by the [[Stellenbossche Liefhebbery Tooneel - Stellenbosch Amateur Theatre]]  (under the motto [[Door Yver Vruchtbaar]]) on 19 August, 1837 in Stellenbosch , with as afterpiece to ''[[De Uniformrok van den Veldmaarschalk Wellington]]'' (Von Kotzebue).

== Sources ==

Facsimile of the 1827 French text (Google eBook)[https://books.google.co.za/books?id=hgZZwlxzcWoC&pg=PA163&lpg=PA163&dq=le+joueur+par+Victor+Ducange+en+Dinaux&source=bl&ots=9-FsbeM_yl&sig=hgY_UhoifFKg0U2aRzOhAUTTHj0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tADoVKy6HcitU97ngZAC&ved=0CEcQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=le%20joueur%20par%20Victor%20Ducange%20en%20Dinaux&f=false]

Facsimile of the [[Dutch]] text (Google eBook)[https://books.google.co.za/books?id=Ze1TAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Dertig+Jaren,+of+Het+Leven+van+een+Dobbelaar+door+Ducange+en+Dinaux&source=bl&ots=cDi7lSjO1G&sig=aEgUz8j_9AzNLmxYuj95fUChkuU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=W_znVLH4CMi4UdSGgNgE&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Dertig%20Jaren%2C%20of%20Het%20Leven%20van%20een%20Dobbelaar%20door%20Ducange%20en%20Dinaux&f=false]

http://www.worldcat.org/title/gamblers-fate-or-a-lapse-of-twenty-years-a-drama-in-two-acts/oclc/9079808

http://www.archieven.nl/nl/zoeken?mivast=0&mizig=210&miadt=45&miaet=1&micode=1333&minr=922381&miview=inv2

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8427267n/f149.item.hl

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_F%C3%A9lix_Beudin

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosper_Goubaux

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

[[F.C.L. Bosman]], 1928. ''Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855''. Pretoria: [[J.H. de Bussy]]. [http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bosm012dram01_01/]: pp.213-4, 248, 255

Go to [[ESAT Bibliography]]

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