Reformation

A comic interlude in one act. The authorship of this work is very uncertain, it being credited, depending on the source, to an Anonymous author, a J.B.Pulham, or a Mr Bernard.

The original text

Usually indicated as written by an Anonymous author in the South African source (F.C.L. Bosman, 1928) and most copies of the play on sale today.

However, in a list of "Dramatic Works published by C.Chapple.." in the back of the published text of My wife or My Place (Shannon and Thackeray, C. Chapple: 1831), a play by this name is listed as having been written by "J.B.Pulham" and available at a price of "1s 6d"[1]

In The Tatler No 241 of Saterday June 11, 1831[2] on the other hand, a playbill from the Queen's Theatre is reproduced which claims the authorship for a Mr Bernard.

These authorship claims, and the South African performance, seem to suggest that the play must have been first performed in England no later than 1827.

Performance history in South Africa

1828: Produced in the African Theatre, Cape Town by the English Theatrical Amateur Company on 9 May, as a benefit for Mrs Black, billed as an anonymous interlude between The Mogul Tale, or The Descent of the Balloon (Inchbald) and Trick for Trick, or The Admiral's Daughter (Anonymous).

Sources

Facsimile version of a list of Dramatic Works published by C.Chapple in My wife or My Place (Shannon and Thackeray, 1831): Google eBook[3]

Facsimile version of The Tatler No 241 of Saterday June 11, 1831: Google eBook[4]

http://www.amazon.com/Reformation-comic-interlude-prose-etc/dp/1241033692

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928: pp. 201,

Go to ESAT Bibliography

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