Jérome Pointu

Jérome Pointu (lit "Sharp Jerome") is a farce in one act by Beaunoir (nom-de-plume of Alexandre-Louis-Bertrand Robineau, 1746-1823)

In his voluminous history of early South African theatre, F.C.L. Bosman (1928: pp.279, 333 and 456) for some reason has the author of the play Jérome Pointu as "D'Orvigny" (= "Dorvigny"), not "Beaunoir", and apparently considers Ieder Veege Zyn Eigen Vloer as an original German play by Schröder, not a Dutch version of the Beaunoir work.

The original text

First performed in the Théâtre des Variétés Amusantes, Paris on 13 June, 1781 and published by Cailleau, Paris in 1781, Bélin, Paris, 1784 (as Jérôme Pointu), and Hookham, London in 1785.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into German as Jeder fege vor seiner Tür ("Everyone sweeps his own floor") by Friedrich Ludwig Schröder (1744 –1816) and published in 1783.

Translated into Dutch as Jérome Pointu and published by B. Wild in 1782.

The title Jerome Pointu, of Ieder Veege Zijn Eigen Vloer ("Jerome the sharp, or Everyone sweeps their own floor") is also found as a title for the Dutch translation (when performed at the Haagsche Schouwburg in 1806 and 1848, for example). This is most probably J.S. van Esveldt-Holtrop's 1799 translation of the German version, which he entitled Ieder Veege Zyn Eigen Vloer ("Everyone sweeps his own floor") and published in Amsterdam by W. Holtrop in 1799.

Performance history in South Africa

1824: Performed in Dutch on 31 July in the African Theatre by the amateur company Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense, but wrongly accredited to "D'Orvigny" by F.C.L. Bosman (1928, p. 279) or his source. Performed with De Barbier van Seville, of De Onnutte Voorsorg (Beaumarchais).

1835: Performed in Dutch on 16 May in the Kaapsche Liefhebbery Theater ("The Cape Amateur Theatre") by the Dutch amateur company Vlyt en Kunst, with Pizarro (Von Kotzebue).

1851: Performed in Dutch as Ieder Veege Zyn Eigen Vloer (in the Holtrop translation) by Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst on 28 August, with Frederik en Charlotte, of De Edelmoedige Beloning der Deugd (P. 't Hoen).