Epicœne, or The silent woman
Epicœne, or The silent woman, also known as The Epicene, is a comedy by Renaissance playwright Ben Jonson. It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children or Children of the Queen's Revels, a group of boy players, in 1609. It was, by Jonson's admission, a failure on its first presentation; however, John Dryden and others championed it, and after the Restoration it was frequently revived—indeed, a reference by Samuel Pepys to a performance on 6 July 1660 places it among the first plays legally performed after Charles II's ascension.
Performance history in South Africa
1969: Directed by Roy Sargeant and presented by the Rhodes University Drama Department in association with CAPAB in Grahamstown, Stellenbosch and Cape Town in September 1969, including Frantz Dobrowsky as Ned Clerimont; Stephen Gurney as Sir Dauphine Eugenie; Dugald Thomson as Truewit; John Burch as Morose; Christopher Weare as Cutbeard and Anthony Peake as Epicoene.
A new prologue to the play was composed by Guy Butler and spoken by Noël Roos before a performance of the play, 1969.
Translations and adaptations
Sources
Wikipedia [1].
CAPAB List of Plays Presented, 1971.
Photograph of 1969 cast held by NELM: [Collection: Rhodes University. Drama Department]: 2006. 6. 5. 9.
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