La Joie Fait Peur

La Joie Fait Peur ("joy causes fear") is a one act French play in 23 scenes by Mme Émile de Girardin (Delphine de Girardin, 1804-1855)[1].

The original text

The title is normally written in lower case in French sources, i.e. La joie fait peur.

First performed in Paris, at the Théâtre-Français on 25 February, 1854, and published by Callmann-Lévy, Paris.

Translations and adaptations

On 25 November 1863 Mon-Joie Fait Peur ("my joy causes fear"), an apparent one act parody by Paul Siraudin (1813-1883) and Ernest Blum of De Girardin's play, was performed at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris and published there in the same year.

Adapted into English as a one act play called Night and Morning by Dion Boucault (1820-1890)[2],

First performed in Manchester in 1871, the play opened in London at the Gaiety Theatre on November 29, 1871, playing into 1872. A version of text was published in Chicago by the Dramatic Publishing Co. in 1871 and another version as Sergel's Acting Drama, No. 370.

The play was also apparently known as Kerry, after the leading character, originally played by Boucicault himself. A number of sources thus refer to the play as either Kerry, or Night and Morning or Night and Morning, or Kerry.

The French original was also translated directly into English as The Joy that Causes Fear by Tennyson Smith, published and performed in Australia in 1888 by Tessero's French Comedy Company [3]

Performance history in South Africa

1903: Performed as Kerry by the Edward Terry and his company in the Good Hope Theatre, Cape Town, on 6 April, with Terry as "Kerry". Also played was The Passport (Stephenson and Yardley).

Sources

Transcript version of the original French text, Théâtre-documentation.com[4]

Facsimile version of the Callmann-Lévy edition, Gallica[5]

Facsimile version of the original edition of the parody by Siraudin and Blum, Gallica[6]

G.M. Rohrig. 1956. An Analysis of Curtain Acting Editions and Promptbooks of Plays by Dion Boucicault, Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Ohio State University[7]

Richard Fawkes. 2011. Dion Boucicault, Ardent Media: p.132[8]

"Boucicault's Dramatic Works, 1838-1885", The Victorian Web[9]

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

Facsimile version of the 1888 Programme and text of The Joy that Causes Fear, Trove[10]

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 1932. (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: p.414.

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