The Secret of the Hole in the Wall

The title The Secret of the Hole in the Wall occurs in F.C.L. Bosman (1980), as a work by an anonymous author.

The (approximate) title of The Secret, or A/The Hole in the Wall is also given by Bogar (2002) for a play performed by the American actor John E. Owens in Baltimore in 1843. Bogar suggests either one of the texts given below as the text used.

The original text

The title appears to combine the titles the "hole in the wall" or "the secret" in one title, and the original text and this leads one to suspect, along with Bogar, that the original text used was perhaps one of the following two likely candidates:

The Hole in the Wall by John Poole

A farce in two acts, it was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, in 1813 and published by J.M. Richardson in the same year.

Facsimile version of the 1813 edition of The Hole in the Wall by Poole, Google E-book[1]

Thomas A. Bogar. 2002. John E. Owens: Nineteenth Century American Actor and Manager. McFarland: p. 173.[2]

The Secret by Edward Morris

A comedy, in five acts it was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, in 1799 and published by Cadell and Davies in the same year.

This paly was seen under its own title a few times in Cape Town (see the entry under The Secret).

1858: A farce called The Secret of the Hole in the Wall (no author given) was performed at the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, by the Cape Town Dramatic Club on 9 July, 1858, with Plot and Passion, or The Female Gambler (Taylor and Lang).