Gustavus Vasa

Gustavus Vasa is an English play by Henry Brooke (1703–1783)[1],

The original text

The play concerned the liberation of Sweden from Denmark in 1521 by King Gustav I of Sweden (then regent), and was first performed in London in 1739.

It was the first English play to be banned under the Licensing Act 1737, apparently because the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, Robert Walpole, believed that the villain of the play resembled him.

Translations and adaptations

Translated and/or adapted into German as a 5 act tragedy called Gustav Wasa by August von Kotzebue (1761-1819)[2]. Performed 1800 and published in Leipzig by P.G. Kummer, 1801.

Translated and adapted into Dutch as Gustaaf Wasa by D.F. van Heyst (apparently from the English version by H. Brooke) and published in Amsterdam by J.W. Smit, 1802. (In the general index to F.C.L. Bosman (1980) the Dutch play is referred to as Gustaaf Vasa, but in entries on the play the title is given as Gustaaf Wasa.)

Performance history in South Africa

1867: A fragment performed in Dutch as Gustaaf Wasa by Aurora II in Paarl, with as an afterpiece Een Hedendaagsch Duel (Guiseppe) on 7 November.

1868: Performed in Dutch as Gustaaf Wasa by Aurora II in the Germania Hall, Cape Town, with as an afterpiece Manke Koos (Arnold) on 19 November.

1872: A fragment of two acts from H. Brooke's English version, translated as Gustaaf Wasa by Van Heyst, performed in Dutch by Aurora II in the Germania Hall, Cape Town, with as an afterpiece Een Oom uit Californië (Hoek) on 5 September.