Human Nature

According to Allardyce Nicoll (1975: pp.404-5) there were two versions of a play by this name.

Not to be confused with the 2001 American film called Human Nature'

Human Nature (1867)

A light comedy written by Augustus Glossop Harris (1825-1873)[1] and T.J. Williams (fl 1860s).

The original text

Olympic Theatre, London, 22 July 1867

Human Nature (1885)

A melodrama about the vengeance of a cast-off mistress at the time of the British war in the Sudan, written by Henry Pettitt (1848-1893)[2] and Augustus Henry Glossop Harris (1852-1896)[3]

The original text

First performed at the Drury Lane Theatre, London, in 12 September, 1885

Performance history in South Africa

1904: The Drury Lane (i.e. Pettitt and Harris) version performed by Leonard Rayne and his company in the Opera House , Cape Town in the first half of the year.

Sources

Allardyce Nicoll. 1975. A History of English Drama 1660-1900: Late 19th Century Drama 1850-1900 Cambridge University Press: pp.404-5[4]

Sos Eltis. 2013. Acts of Desire: Women and Sex on Stage 1800-1930. Ocford University Press[5]

Jacqueline S. Bratton, et al. 1991. Acts of Supremacy: The British Empire and the Stage, 1790-1930. Manchester University Press[6]

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/poster-advertising-the-play-human-nature-written-by-henry-news-photo/53041725

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

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Pettitt,_Henry_(DNB00)

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.420

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