Madeleine, or The Daughter of the Regiment

Madeleine, or The Daughter of the Regiment is a play by Edward Stirling (1809-1894)[1].

Also referred to simply as The Daughter of the Regiment at times.

The original text

This is clearly one of a number of works based (directly or indirectly) on La fille du régiment, the 1840 opéra comique by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)[2]. (See the entry on The Daughter of the Regiment.)

Het Volksblad's anonymous reviewer of the 1862 Cape Town performances, for example, refers to the play as La fille du régiment and laments the lack of Donizetti's music in the performance. (Het Volksblad, 19 June 1862)

Possibly written circa 1860.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1862: Performed in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town by the Clara Tellett and her company on 16th June, with Hunting a Turtle, or Trust a Woman's Wit (Selby ). Tellet (or the Cape press at the time) refers to the author as "E. Sterling". The cast included Tellett herself, James Leffler, T. Brazier, Mr Raymond and Mrs Arlington

1862: Performed in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town by the Clara Tellett and her company on 23rd June, with My American Cousin, or A Slight Misunderstanding ("A Gentleman of Cape Town").

1875: A "musical comedietta" called The Daughter of the Regiment was performed on 23 June, by Disney Roebuck and company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, with the The Day after the Wedding (Kemble) and Princess Pocahontas (Anon). No author is specified for the musical, so the text in question could be any one of the three English stage plays from the 19th century based on the opera - though Bosman (1980, p.509) suggests it was the Stirling text.

1875: Performed again as The Daughter of the Regiment by Disney Roebuck and company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 26 June, with a recital of The Charge of the Light Brigade (Tennyson) by Miss Berenger and the two act drama Ben Bolt (Johnstone).

1875: Performed again as The Daughter of the Regiment by Disney Roebuck and company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 9 September, with a dance by Miss Duggan and Lost in London (Phillips).