Trente Ans, ou La Vie d'un Joueur

Trente Ans, ou La Vie d'un Joueur ("thirty years, or the life of gambler") is a melodrama by Victor Ducange (1783-1833)[1] and Dinaux (1795-1859)[2].

The original text

Originally written by Jacques Félix Beudin[3] and Prosper Goubaux (1795-1859)[4], using the pseudonym "Dinaux", and then reworked by Victor Ducange (1783-1833)[5]. Described as a "Mélodrame en trois journées" ("A melodrama in three days").

It was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, on 19 June 1827,with Frédérick Lemaître in the lead. Music by Alexandre Piccini, entertainment ("divertissement") by Corally and décor by Lefebvre.

Published in Paris by Barba in 1827, credited to "MM Victor Ducange et Dinaux" only, with no mention of the original co-author, Jacques Félix Beudin. The play became quite a success and was republished and performed many times, right into the 20th century. A film was made of it in 1975.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into English as The Gambler's Fate, or A Lapse of Twenty Years ) and adapted as a drama in two acts by Charles Thompson. (Also known simply as The Gambler's Fate.) The English translation was hugely popular during the mid 18th century in London. First published in 1827(?) by J. Cumberland.

Translated into Dutch as Dertig Jaren, of Het Leven van een Dobbelaar. Apparently, according to documents in the Dutch archival collection "Stukken betreffende leden van de families Vitringa en Van Delden"[6], it was copied from the first performance by A.J. van Delden Stevenz and his text is subtitled "Melodrama in drie tijdperken".

However the first published Dutch translation, as Dertig Jaren, of Het Leven van een Dobbelaar, is credited to Bernard Anthoine Fallée (1773-1847)[7], subtitled a "tooneelspel, dat in drie dagen afspeelt" ("a play which takes place in three days") and published in Amsterdam by J.C. van Kesteren, 1828.

Performance history in South Africa

According to F.C.L. Bosman (1928, p 213), its first production in Cape Town on 5 June by H. Booth and All the World's a Stage led to a great deal of critique for the presentation and the text, which the critic of the South African Commercial Advertiser said was "a clumsy adaptation from the German". In response "A British Amateur", writing in the De Zuid-Afrikaan, stated (correctly) that it was in fact an "almost literal translation" of the French play La Vie d'un Joueur. However, despite the criticism, it seems to have been to everyone's taste.

1830: Performed in English as The Gambler's Fate by H. Booth and All the World's a Stage on 5 June, with The Miller's Maid (Saville) as afterpiece.

1830: Repeated by popular demand in English as The Gambler's Fate by H. Booth and All the World's a Stage on 19 June, with Charles the Second, or The Merry Monarch (Payne) on 19 June.

1835: Performed in English as The Gambler's Fate, or A Lapse of Twenty Years by the Private Amateur Company on 25 May, with a play named as Mr Thompson, or Which is He? (Anon) as afterpiece. The performance was a benefit for Mr Whiley.

1836: Performed in Dutch by Tot Nut en Vermaak on 28 October in Cape Town, with as afterpiece to De Deserteur (Von Kotzebue).

1837: Performed in Dutch by the Stellenbossche Liefhebbery Tooneel - Stellenbosch Amateur Theatre (under the motto Door Yver Vruchtbaar) on 19 August, 1837 in Stellenbosch , with as afterpiece to De Uniformrok van den Veldmaarschalk Wellington (Von Kotzebue).