The Lying Valet

A farce in two acts by David Garrick (1717 – 1779). It was first performed at the Goodman's Fields Theatre on 30 November 1741 and printed for and sold by Paul Vaillant; and J. Roberts,1742. Based on the second act of All Without Money by Peter Antony Motteux, which was in turn inspired by a French play.

Performance history in South Africa

Performed in the African Theatre, Cape Town by the Garrison Players on 3 June, 1808, with The Old Maid (Murphy) and and occasional comic songs, as a benefit for the Widows and Orphans of the Royal Artillery and Engineers. and an epilogue written an spoken by Captain Collins. Rather uniquely Bosman (1928, p75) however, quotes the names of the plays from the bilingual newspaper The Cape Town gazette and African advertiser = Kaapsche Stads courant en Afrikaansche berigter in Dutch ( as De Oude Meid [sic!], and De Liegende Knegt) - but they were most probably performed in the original English.

Translations and adaptations

According to Bosman (1928 p. 455) a Dutch version of a two act comedy by Garrick called De Logen om Best Wil was performed by Tot Oefening en Vermaak in the Hope Street Theatre, Cape Town in the Dutch translation on 30 October 1849, along with Zoë, of De Zegepraal eener Standvastige Liefde, with as "divertissement", an original sentimental song (Geene Bandieten) by an unnamed South African, and a "comic dance".

However the title has no meaning in Dutch and is clearly a misspelling. The translation was most probably entitled De Leugen om Bestwil (approx. "The well intentioned lie").