Reformation

Reformation is 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" (possibly a publisher), 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[1]) and also most copies of the play on sale on the internet today.

However, in a list of "Dramatic Works published by C.Chapple..", published 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"[2] Pulham may in fact have been the publisher responsible for the text, since the only other reference to him is where he appears in this capacity for a publication by C. Withers[3].

In The Tatler No 241 of Saterday June 11, 1831[4] 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 two things: (a) that a play by this name must have been first performed in England no later than 1827 and (b) (a little more unlikely) that there may be tow- or even three - plays by exactly the same name from that period.

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 Interlude, performed 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[5]

Facsimile version of The Tatler No 241 of Saterday June 11, 1831: Google eBook[6]

https://archive.org/details/singlesiquis00withrich

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

F.C.L. Bosman. 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [7]: p. 201,

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