Le Verre d'Eau. Les Effets et Les Causes

Le Verre d'Eau. Les Effets et Les Causes ("The glass of water. The effects and the causes") is a historical comedy in five acts by Augustin Eugène Scribe (1791-1861)[1].

The original French text

Set in the court of at the court of Queen Anne of Great Britain during the early 18th century, during the last period of the Spanish War of Succession.

Written for and performed for the first time at the Théâtre-Français in Paris on 17 November 1840.

Translations and adaptations

It has been translated into several languages, including:

Dutch: Het Glas Water, of Die Uitwerkingen en De Beweegredenen, by Carel Alexander van Ray, Published in Amsterdam: Van Kesteren, 1841.

(Not to be confused with Het Glas Water, a Dutch translation of Das Glas Wasser, a German comedy in two acts by Andreas Joseph von Guttenberg (1770 - 1817).)

German: Das Glas Wasser, oder Ursachen und Wirkungen in 1841 by Alexander Cosmar (1805-1842)[2].

English: The Glass of Water, or Effects and Causes (i.a. by Sharon Parsell in 1984)

An adaptation of the play, now called The Queen's Favourite, was done by Sydney Grundy (1848-1914)[3] expressly for Miss Geneviève Ward and Mr W.H. Vernon. First performed by them in the Olympic Theatre, London, on 2 June, 1883 and later taken on ttour as part of their repertoire over the years.

Performance history in South Africa

1891-2: Performed in Grundy's version as The Queen's Favourite by the Geneviève Ward Company during a tour of nine months throughout South Africa, under the auspices of Luscombe Searelle, featuring Geneviève Ward and W.H. Vernon in the leading roles.

Sources

Facsimile version of an annotated version of the French text by Charles Colbeck. (Cambridge University Preass, 1885)[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Scribe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_of_Water

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Glas_Wasser

http://books.google.co.za/books?id=LalPAAAAcAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Louis B. Petit, Catalogus Bibliotheek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden, Publisher: Brill Archive, 1887[5]

Bernard Ince. 2013. Before Ibsen: The Early Stage Career of Janet Achurch, 1883–89, Research Gater[6] (Accessed 31 May 2020.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Grundy

Allardyce Nicoll. 1975. A History of English Drama 1660-1900 (Volume 5, Late Nineteenth Century) Cambridge University Press:p.396 [7]

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. 392-3

Go to ESAT Bibliography