A Duel in the Dark

A Duel in the Dark is a farce in one act by J. Stirling Coyne (1803-1868)[1].

Also found as A Duel in the Dark!.

The original text

Most probably an English adapatation of Il Duello al Buio ("The duel in the dark") a melodrama in two acts with a Italian libretto by Giuseppe Checcherini (1777–1840)[2], which was published by Tipografia Flautina in 1835[3]

First performed in the Theatre Royal Haymarket on January the 31st, 1852 by Buckstone and published in London by Thomas Hailes Lacy.

Performance history in South Africa

1866: Performed by the Le Roy-Duret Company as part of their introductory production in the Harrington Street Theatre , Cape Town, on 29 January, as afterpiece to Lucretia Borgia (Hugo/Donizetti, or Hugo/Weston).

1866: Performed by the Le Roy-Duret Company on 20 April, with Love in Humble Life (Scribe and Dupin/Payne) and The Dear Admiral (Anon.)

Sources

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

Facsimile version of the 1852 text by Lacy, The Internet Archive[4]

https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Il_duello_al_buio_melodramma_in_due_atti.html?id=rp3lVsxovyAC&hl=en&output=html_text&redir_esc=y

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.202-204, 209

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