The Manxman

The Manxman is a play in five acts by Wilson Barrett (1846-1904)[1]

The original text

The play is the first dramatization of The Manxman, the popular novel by Hall Caine (1853-1931)[2], which first appeared as a serial in The Queen, The Lady's Newspaper and Court Chronicle between January and July 1894. It was then published as one volume in August 1894 by Heinemann.

Wilson Barrett's dramatization was first performed in the Grand Theatre, Leeds, on 22 August 1894, shortly after the publication of the book and then went on a regional tour, before opening in the Shaftesbury Theatre in London. Poorly received it only last 13 performances in London.

It played at the American Theatre, New York from 26 November to December of 1894)

On 5 March 1898 Wilson Barrett and Maud Jeffries took their London company to Australia, opening in Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney.

Translations and adaptations

Caine and Louis N. Parker later also dramatized his novel under the title Pete, a very popular version. Published by Collier, London, in 1908.

Performance history in South Africa

1902: Performed by Wilson Barrett and his Company, on their first visit to South Africa, as their opening piece of a short season in the Good Hope Theatre, Cape Town, under the auspices of the Wheeler Brothers in August. D.C. Boonzaier described the performance by the famed tragedian as disappointing and the actor "feeble" and "tottering", and "struggling painfully to realise the strong, robust and manly hero of Mr Hall Caine's imagination" (cited in Bosman, 1980: p.411).

Sources

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

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

https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-manxman-412612

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: p. 411

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