A Conjugal Lesson

A Conjugal Lesson is a farce in one act by Henry Danvers (fl. mid 19th century)

Also known as The Conjugal Lesson or The Married Flirt, or A Conjugal Lesson

The original text

The play was licensed in 1856 as The Married Flirt, or A Conjugal Lesson (Stay at Home) as a comedy in two acts by Henry Danvers. The licence was sent 31 January for performance at the Olympic Theatre, London, on 3 July 1856, with the stipulation that all oaths be omitted.

The text was published in by Thomas Hailes Lacy , vol. 27, no. 392. The title page has the title as A comic scene inculcating and entitled A conjugal lesson, in one act and the author given as H. Danvers.

According to Kenneth Richards and ‎Peter Thomson (2015) the manuscript for a play called The Married Flirt, or A Conjugal Lesson is among the texts in the Lord Chamberlain's collection in the British Museum, and they claim that it was based on the French play Un Mari qui se Dérange (a comédie-vaudeville in two acts) by Eugène Cormon and Eugène Grangé.

Performance history in South Africa

1858: Performed as A Conjugal Lesson by J.E.H. English and his company in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on 21 September, with The Corsican Brothers (Grangé and De Montépin/ Boucicault).

1862: Performed as an interlude entitled The Conjugal Lesson by the Amateurs of the Band (North Lincolnshire Regiment of Foot) on 8 October, in the Garrison Theatre, Keiskama Hoek, with a cast consisting of F. Girton (Mr Simon Lullaby), J. Davies (Mrs Letitia Lullaby). The evening also included the plays The Eddystone Elf (Pitt) and Slasher and Crasher (Morton).

Sources

Advert for A Comic Scene Inculcating and Entitled a Conjugal Lesson: In One Act, a text published by Lacy in Nineteenth century English drama[1]

Allardyce Nicoll. 2009. History of English Drama, 1660-1900, Volume 5, Part 2, p. 336, Cambridge University Press[2]

The Married Flirt, or A Conjugal Lesson, Lord Chamberlain's Plays, 1852 - 1866. January - March 1856, Plays Licensed in 1856 - Royal Holloway[3]

North Lincoln Sphinx Vol 1, No 14. December 10th 1862.

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: p.121 Go to ESAT Bibliography

Kenneth Richards and Peter Thomson (eds). 1971/2015. Nineteenth Century British Theatre, Routledge: p. 119-120[4]

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