Don César de Bazan

Don César de Bazan is a French melodrama in five acts by Dumanoir (Philippe-François Pinel, 1806-1865) and Adolphe d'Ennery (1811 – 1899).

The original text

The play was written in 1844 and produced by Frédérick Lemaître on 30 July 1844 at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin.

The play derived from performances of Victor Hugo’s drama Ruy Blas, which had had its first performance in Paris at the Théâtre de la Renaissance on November 8, 1838, and had many subsequent imitators and adaptations.

In this case, a secondary character named Don César de Bazan, played by Frédérick Lemaitre for a number of years, led to a commission for a new melodrama by that name, written to provide Lemaitre with a lead role of his own.

Translations and adaptations

A French opéra comique in four acts by Jules Massenet , entitled Don César de Bazan, said to be based on Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, was composed , to a French libretto by Adolphe d'Ennery, Philippe-François Pinel "Dumanoir" and Jules Chantepie, and first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 30 November 1872. (The involvement of Dumanoir and d'Ennery does suggest that the “libretto” may have in fact been their 1844 play.)

Three English versions of the play all appeared in 1844:

The first was by Gilbert Abbott a'Beckett (1811-1856) and Mark Lemon (1809-1870), entitled Don Caesar de Bazan (a drama in three acts), and had its première at the Princess's Theatre, London, on October 8th, 1844. Published in London by T. H. Lacy.

Caesar de Bazan, or Love and Honour a drama, in three acts (or alternatively also called Don Caesar de Bazan, or Love and Honour) by Benjamin Webster and Dion Boucicault. (It is sometimes credited to Dion Boucicault only.) This premièred at The Adelphi on 14 October, 1844.

The third English version of the story was by Charles Mathews (1803–1878) and entitled Match for a King. It was first done at the Haymarket in 1844.

In 1878 the a'Beckett and Lemon version was produced as The Comedy of Don Caesar de Bazan by Edwin Booth, and published by Winter under this title.

Performance history in South Africa

1851: The Webster and Boucicault version called Caesar de Bazan, or Love and Honour was performed in the Garrison Theatre by the English Amateur Company on Wednesday 3 December, with a farce, Thimble Rig (Buckstone), as afterpiece. The performance was in aid of "(S)ufferers by the Kaffir War" (i.e. the border war taking place on the eastern border of the Cape Province).

1852: The Webster and Boucicault version was performed in the Garrison Theatre by the Amateur Company on Tuesday 13 April and again on 21 April. It was one of three fundraisers done for the survivors of the troop ship Birkenhead. The Thumping Legacy (Morton) was played as afterpiece.