View source for The Boots at the Swan

''[[The Boots at the Swan]]'' is an original [[burletta]] in one act by Charles Selby (1802?-1863)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Selby].

Also found as '''''[[Boots at the Swan]]''.'''

==The original text==

First performed at the New Strand Theatre, London, on 6 June 1842, and the Park Theatre, New York in 1846. Published  as ''[[The Boots at the Swan]]'' by T.H. Lacy in London, 1842[?] and as ''[[Boots at the Swan]]'' by William Taylor and Co. in New York, 1847.

==Translations and adaptations==

== Performance history in South Africa ==


1858: Performed as ''[[The Boots at the Swan]]'' in the [[New Music Hall]] in Buitekant Street, Cape Town, by [[J.E.H. English]] and company on 27 February, with ''[[The Victor Vanquished]]'' (Dance), and featuring among others "[[Miss Delmaine]]".

1858: Performed again as ''[[The Boots at the Swan]]'' in the [[New Music Hall]] in Buitekant Street, Cape Town, by [[J.E.H. English]] and company on 6 July, with ''[[The Victor Vanquished]]'' (Dance), and now also featuring [[Mrs Delmaine]].

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

1869: Performed as ''[[The Boots at the Swan]]'' in February on [[Robben Island]] by an amateur company (of patients and possibly medical staff,  apparently), with ''[[Turn him Out]]'' (Williams?), and supported by the Robben Island Brass Band. It is reported that 150 visitors had travelled to the island by boat, to swell the audience to 250 for the evening's entertainment.

1875: Performed as ''[[Boots at the Swan]]'' in the [[Bijou Theatre]], Cape Town, by [[Disney Roebuck]] and company on 19 June, with ''[[The Happy Pair]]'' (Smith) and acts one and three of ''[[The Corsican Brothers]]'' (Grangé and De Montépin/Boucicault).

1875: Performed as ''[[Boots at the Swan]]'' in the [[Bijou Theatre]], Cape Town, by [[Disney Roebuck]] and company on 21 June, with ''[[Catherine Howard]]'' (Dumas/Suter).

1876: Performed as ''[[The Boots at the Swan]]'' in the [[Theatre Royal]], Burg Street,  Cape Town,  by the [[Disney Roebuck]] company on 10 August, with ''[[Nobody's Child]]'' (Phillips).

1877: Performed as ''[[The Boots at the Swan]]'' in the [[Theatre Royal]], Cape Town, by the [[Disney Roebuck]] company on 10 September, with ''[[Lost in London]]'' (Phillips).

== Sources ==

Facsimile version of the 1842 Lacy edition of the original text, ''Hathi Trust Digital Library''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175035135527;view=1up;seq=3]

Facsimile version of the 1847 Taylor edition of the original text, ''The Internet Archive''[https://archive.org/stream/bootsatswanfarce00selb#page/n11/mode/2up]

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

[[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 [[F.C.L. Bosman|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. 111, 120, 284, 324, 342, 360.

[[William Groom]]. 1899-1900. Drama in Cape Town. ''Cape Illustrated Magazine'', 10(4): 478-481, 517-520, 547-552, 580-584, 640-643, 670-672, 706-708. 

Go to [[ESAT Bibliography]]

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