Ambrose Gwinett, or A Sea Side Story

A Melo-drama, in Three Acts by Douglas Jerrold (1803 – 1857)[1].

The name is sometimes spelled Ambrose Gwinnett, and in South Africa referred to as Ambrose Guinett, or a Sea-Side Story or simply Ambrose Guinett.

Translations and adaptations

Based on a tale by Isaac Bickerstaffe, the play opened at the Coburg Theatre on 6 October, in 1828.

Published in 1828.

Performance history in South Africa

1831: Played for the first time on 8 October by the All the World's a Stage in the African Theatre, as Ambrose Guinett, or a Sea-Side Story, with as afterpiece Amateurs and Actors, or A Peep Behind the Curtain (Peake).

1838: Performed by the English Amateur Company in the Cape Town Theatre on 13 October, 1838, with as afterpiece The Spectre Bridegroom, or A Ghost in spite of Himself (Moncrieff). The title wrongly given as Ambrose Guinett, or a Sea-Side Story. According to Bosman (1928), this was to be the last production mounted in the African Theatre before it was sold and turned into a church, and it was also the last production by English amateurs in Cape Town till 1843, for the Methodist anti-theatre movement had temporarily won the battle.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_William_Jerrold

http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1694744/Ambrose-Bierces-middle-name

Frederick Burwick. 2015. British Drama of the Industrial Revolution. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: p. 198[2].

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [3]: pp.208, 217, 224

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