Le Courrier de Lyon, ou L'attaque de la Malle-Poste
A number of plays have been written about the infamous French criminal case generally known as "L'affaire du Courrier de Lyon" (or sometimes the "Courrier de Lyon" case in English)[1].
Le Courrier de Lyon, ou L'attaque de la Malle-Poste is a French play in five acts and eight tableaux by Eugène Moreau (1806-1876), Paul Siraudin and Alfred Delacour
Not to be confused with the drama in five acts called L'Affaire du Courrier de Lyon (1953) by Marcel Dubois ()[].
Contents
The original text
The play deals with about a famous French criminal case known as "l'Affaire du courrier de Lyon" (or the "Courrier de Lyon" case in English[2]. It concers an event that occurred during the French Revolution when, during the night of 27 and 28 April 1796, a mail coach on its way to Lyon and carrying money for the Army of Italy, was ambushed outside Paris by several armed men. Both the driver and the armed guard were brutally killed.
First performed in the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, on 15 March, 1850. Published Michel Lévy fr. in 1850 and in 1856 (as Volume 61 of Théâtre contemporain illustré).
Facsimile version of the original French text, BnF Gallica[3]
Translations and adaptations
Inspired by the French play, Charles Reade ()[] wrote an English play in three acts called The Courier of Lyons[4] in 1854. (Read's play is also found under the title The Lyons Mail.)
Reade's play was turned into a silent film called The Lyons Mail in 1916[5] and a sound version (also named The Lyons Mail and also known as Courrier de Lyon) in 1931[6].
The French play later formed the basis of the French film Affaire du courrier de Lyon by Claude Autant-Lara and Maurice Lehmann (1937[7]).
Performance history in South Africa
Sources
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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