Gustavus Vasa

Gustavus Vasa, The Deliverer of his Country is a controversial English play by Henry Brooke (1703–1783)[1],

The play is more often referred to simply as

The original text

The play concerned the liberation of Sweden from Denmark in 1521 by King Gustav I of Sweden (then regent), and was to have been performed at the Drury Lane Theatre, London, in 1839, but on the eve of the opening night it was banned by the Lord Chamberlain - according some sources this was probably at the instigation of the then Prime Minsiter, Robert Walpole, who apparently believed that the villain of the piece resembled him. This gave the play the dubious distinction of having been the first English play to be banned under the Licensing Act 1737.

Translations and adaptations

Translated and/or adapted into German as a 5 act tragedy called Gustav Wasa by August von Kotzebue (1761-1819)[2]. Performed 1800 and published in Leipzig by P.G. Kummer, 1801.

Translated and adapted into Dutch as Gustaaf Wasa by D.F. van Heyst (apparently from the English version by H. Brooke) and published in Amsterdam by J.W. Smit, 1802. (In the general index to F.C.L. Bosman (1980) the Dutch play is referred to as Gustaaf Vasa, but in entries on the play the title is given as Gustaaf Wasa.)

Performance history in South Africa

1867: A fragment performed in Dutch as Gustaaf Wasa by Aurora II in Paarl, with as an afterpiece Een Hedendaagsch Duel (Guiseppe) on 7 November.

1868: Performed in Dutch as Gustaaf Wasa by Aurora II in the Germania Hall, Cape Town, with as an afterpiece Manke Koos (Arnold) on 19 November.

1872: A fragment of two acts from H. Brooke's English version, translated as Gustaaf Wasa by Van Heyst, performed in Dutch by Aurora II in the Germania Hall, Cape Town, with as an afterpiece Een Oom uit Californië (Hoek) on 5 September.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Brooke_(writer)

Herbert Wright. 1919. "Henry Brooke's 'Gustavus Vasa'", The Modern Language Review (Vol. 14, No. 2: April, 1919), pp. 173-182.

Paul Walsh. 1992. "Henry Brooke's Gustavus Vasa: The ancient constitution and the example of Sweden" Studia Neophilologica (Volume 64, 1992 - Issue 1: pp.67-79).

Facsimile version of the 1801 German Text, Hathi Trusthttps://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.097501259;view=1up;seq=7

Facsimile version of the 1802 Dutch Text, Google E-book[3]

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

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 462, 464, 467

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