Only a Halfpenny

Only a Halfpenny is a farce in one act by John Oxenford (1812-1877).

The original text

First performed at the Royal Haymarket Theatre, London, on 30 May 1855 and published by T.H. Lacy, London, in the same year and by Robert M. de Witt in New York.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1861: Produced by Officers of the Regiment (North Lincolnshire Regiment of Foot) in the Garrison Theatre, Grahamstown on 9 and 12 September, with Box and Cox (Morton) and Crinoline (). The cast consisted of The cast for Crinoline, included: Sergeant J. Lydon (Mr Coobiddy, a commercial gentleman in Manchester trade, aged 29), W. J. B. Martin Esq., (Captain Le Brown), R. Johnson Esq., (John Liptrot, also an officer of the Blues, aged 30), Sergeant T. M'Kay (Jacob Grimes, a representative of the Industrial Interests), W. Malcolm Esq., (Mrs Coobiddy, the commercial gent's wife, aged 23), Corporal J. Davies (Bella, the commercial gentleman's niece, aged 19), Captain C. A. Armstrong (Miss Tite, a fashionable spinster, aged ?), Captain C. A. Armstrong (Nancy Bitters, a domestic servant, with an excellent character from her last place, but not so well provided for her next, aged 37). (For more on contemporary responses to the performances, see the entry on the North Lincolnshire Regiment of Foot)

Sources

Facsimile version of the Lacy edition, Hathi Trust Digital Library[1]

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 1923. (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: pp.

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