The phrase "Quo Vadis"

Quo Vadis? is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?" and is part of Christian lore (based on the apocryphal Acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he is going to Rome. Jesus says, "If thou desertest my people, I am going to Rome to be crucified a second time", which shames Peter into going back to Rome to accept martyrdom. ). It is also the title of a Polish novel Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916)[1] and a play and various films based on it.

The original novel

Though it is commonly known as Quo Vadis, the full title of original novel is Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero and tells of a love that develops between a young Christian woman, Lygia (Ligia in Polish) and Marcus Vinicius, a Roman patrician. It takes place in the city of Rome under the rule of emperor Nero, c. AD 64.

First published in installments in three journals (Gazeta Polska - between 26 March 1895 and 29 February 1896 - Czas and Dziennik Poznański), and as a book in 1896, the novel was translated into more than 50 languages over time. Sienkiewicz received the 1905 Nobel Prize for Literature for Quo Vadis and and some of his other novels.

Translations and adaptations

In 18** Sienkiewicz's novel was adapted as a stage play called Quo Vadis by

Several film versions were made of the tale, including including two Italian silent films (1913 and 1924), a plush Hollywood production in 1951 (nominated for eight Academy Awards), a 1985 miniseries directed by Franco Rossi, and a 2001 adaptation by Jerzy Kawalerowicz.[2]

Quo Vadis, the stage play

Performance history in South Africa

1866: Performed as Lucretia Borgia by the Le Roy-Duret Company in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quo_Vadis_(novel)

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 1932. (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.203-205

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