The Bal Masqué

The Bal Masqué is a comic work by an unknown author, performed in South Africa in the 1860s.

The work is known by a variety of names, e.g. The Bal Masqué or Sloppy Sam the Confidential Ticket Collector), The Bal Masqué (Sloppy Sam) or simply The Bal Masqué

This is not to be confused with Le Bal Masqué, the comic opera by Arthur Henry Ward (1883–1959).

Described as a "side-splitting entertainment" known by a variety of names, e.g. The Bal Masqué or Sloppy Sam the Confidential Ticket Collector), The Bal Masqué (Sloppy Sam) or simply The Bal Masqué,

The original text

Described as a "side-splitting entertainment", this was apparently a Christy style act, well known in Cape Town in the 1860s It is ascribed to Arthur H. Ward by F.C.L. Bosman (1980: p. 260), as the author of Le Bal Masqué, but this is highly unlikely to be true since Ward was only born in 1883. It must have been earlier, burlesque-style work.

See The Bal Masqué (Sloppy Sam)

Billed as a "side-splitting entertainment", the work is ascribed to Arthur H. Ward by F.C.L. Bosman (1980: p. 260). However this is impossible, since the performance referred to dates from 1867, and Ward was only born in 1883. So it is most probably another, earlier, burlesque-style work by an unknown author, not Ward and Vernon's operatic work Le Bal Masqué (1898), though it may have been a source for the later work.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1867: A "side-splitting entertainment" called The Bal Masqué (Sloppy Sam) was performed by the dramatic company of the 9th Regiment in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town on 8 June, with Othello in Ireland ("semi-serio" opera based on Shakespeare).

1867: The Bal Masqué (Sloppy Sam) repeated by the dramatic company of the 9th Regiment in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town on 15 June, with The Rose of Ettrick Vale (Lynch).