Beauty and the Barge

Beauty and the Barge is a farce in three acts by W.W. Jacobs (William Wymark Jacobs, 1863-1943)[1] and Louis N. Parker (Louis Napoleon Parker, 1852-1944)[2].

The original text

A stage adaptation of W.W. Jacobs's short story, The Lady of the Barge, by Jacobs and Louis N. Parker.

First performed by the Haymarket Theatre Company, temporarily exiled to the New Theatre, London on Tuesday 30th August, 1904.

It was brought to Australia by the Brough-Flemming Comedy Company to play in Melbourne and Sydney in 1905 and produced in New York by Charles Frohman at the Lyceum Theatre from 9th June, 1905 to mid September of the same year.

The text was published by Samuel French in 1910.

Translations and adaptations

The play was filmed in 1937 by Julius Hagen Productions, directed by Henry Edwards and featuring Jack Hawkins.

Performance history in South Africa

1906: Performed in the Opera House, Cape Town, by a visiting British comedy company, under the auspices of the Wheeler Theatre Company. The lead was taken by Herbert Greville.

Sources

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100615242

Facsimile version of the 1910 Samuel French edition, Hathi Trust Digital Archive[3]

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/191201150?q&versionId=208573453

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._W._Jacobs

D.C. Boonzaier. 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 425-6

Go to ESAT Bibliography