The Mountaineers

The Mountaineers is a three-act musical historical drama in three acts by George Colman the Younger (1762–1836)[1].

Referred to as De Bergbewoonders ("The mountain dwellers") in Dutch newspapers at the Cape.

The original text

Based loosely on a pair of stories in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote (1605). It was first performed in London at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, on Saturday, August 3, 1793, and had 25 performances. There were many revivals in later years.

Translations and adaptations

Performances in South Africa

1815: Presented in English in the African Theatre, Cape Town on 22 July by a "Society of Amateurs", i.e. former members of Mr Cuerton's Company, with Fortune's Frolic (Allingham) as an afterpiece . The evening is a benefit for Miss Delamore, whom Cuerton had apparently left penniless in Cape Town when he left. (The plays announced in the Kaapsche Courant in Dutch as De Bergbewoonders and Fortuins Vrolykheid.)

1817: Presented in Cape Town on 30 August under the patronage of the Governor by the Garrison Players in the African Theatre , with The Anatomist (Ravenscroft) as afterpiece.

1817: Announced once more for performance by the Garrison Players in the African Theatre on 13 September, with Captain Carter as "Octavian", and The Adopted Child (Birch) as afterpiece, but not performed, due to the death of Captain Thomas Sheridan. The plays were eventually performed on 20 September.

1824: Presented in Cape Town on 22 May by the English Theatricals in the African Theatre , as afterpiece to The Irish Widow (Garrick).

1832: Performed on 1 September by the All the World's a Stage in the Cape Town Theatre with Ambrose Gwinett (Jerrold) as afterpiece.