The Magpie, or The Maid?

The Magpie, or The Maid? is a melodrama in 3 acts by Isaac Pocock (1782–1835)[1].

Also found under the titles Magpie or the Maid, The Maid and the Magpie, or Who's the Thief!!!.

The original text

It is based on La Pie voleuse, by Louis-Charles Caigniez and J. M. T. Badouin d'Aubigny. The "Magpie or the Maid",[7] a drama in three acts, a second edition of which appeared in 1816, was adapted from the French of Louis-Charles Caigniez and Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny. It was first printed in 1814.

Also published as The Magpie; Or, the Maid of Palaiseau. A Melodramatic Romance" by John Murray in 1815.

The French play was also the source for Giovanni Gherardini's libretto for Rossini's opera La gazza ladra (1817).

Performance history in South Africa

1832: Performed on 9 June 1832 by All the World's a Stage under the title The Maid and the Magpie, or Who's the Thief!!! (Pocock), announced as a "new domestic melodrama" by the company. (Bosman, 1928: p221-2). It was accompanied by The Married Bachelor, or Master and Man (O'Callaghan) and Bombastes Furioso, or The King of Utopia (Rhodes).

1835: Performed as The Magpie , or The Maid? as a benefit performance for Mrs Westcott in the Cape Town on 8 October 1835 by the Garrison Players, with Love, Law and Physic (Kenney) as afterpiece.