The Mysteries of Udolpho

The Mysteries of Udolpho)[1] is an immensely popular and influential Gothic novel by Ann Ward.

The novel has been immortalized in a way by the prominent role it plays in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey.

Dramatised versions

The novel has been dramatized a number of times, for example:

Le Testament, ou Les Mystères d'Udolphe, a French prose drama in five acts by Jean Henri Ferdinand la Martelière (1761-1830). First performed in Paris, at the Théatre Louvois, on le 22 Messidor an 6, and published 1797 by Fages.

Montoni, ou Le Chateau d'Udolphe, a French melodrama in 5 acts by Alexandre Duval (1767-1842)[2]. First performed at the Théatre de S.M. l'Impératrice, on 29 July 1813, published in Paris in the same year by Fages.

The Duval version was translated into Dutch as Montoni, of Het Kasteel van Udolpho by A. Bruggemans (1763-1841)[3] and published in Amsterdam by J.W. Smit, in 1800.

A second, and slightly different, Dutch stage version of the novel, by an unknown author (though the source seems to suggest it may also have been Bruggemans), is called Het Testament, of De Geheimen van Udolpho, and was also published in Amsterdam by J.W. Smit, this one in 1801.

The best known English version is The Mysteries of Udolpho, or The Phantom of the Castle, a drama in five acts by John Baylis, also based on one of the French versions. This was never performed in its time, but published in 1804.

There also exist two "operatic" versions, The Mysteries of the Castle by Miles Peter Andrews (1795) and The Castle of Udolpho by an unknown author (1808).

For more information on South African productions, see Montoni, ou Le Chateau d'Udolphe