Le Maître des Forges

Le Maître des Forges (lit. "the owner of the ironworks") is a play by Georges Ohnet (1848-1918)[1].

The original text

Based on Ohnet's own novel called Le Maître des Forges, which was published in 1882 by Paul Ollendorff, Paris. A stage adaptation as "une pièce en 4 actes et 5 tableaux" was done by Ohnet himself. It premiered at the Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell in 1883, and became very popular, receiving more than 271 performances in a few months.

Translations and adaptations

First adapted into English by Robert Buchanan in an unauthorised version called Lady Clare, which was produced in 1883, and advertised as an "original" play.

on 17th April, 1884 , The Ironmaster, an authorized English adaptation of the play by Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934)[2], opened at the St. James’s Theatre, London. The Pinero version was popular and frequently revived during the following decade.

A number of film adaptations of the story were done over the years, e.g. in 1912, 1933, 1948, and 1959.

Performance history in South Africa

1886: The Ironmaster performed in English as part of a short season of eleven plays put on by a company brought to the Opera House, Cape Town, by Madame Pearmain, from November onwards.

1907: The Ironmaster performed in English as part of a short and apparently unsuccessful, season put on by Mrs Cora Brown-Potter (1857–1936)[3] and her company in the Opera House, Cape Town, under the management of The Wheelers, beginning in June and lasting little over a month.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ironmaster_(novel)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Ohnet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ironmaster_(1933_film)

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 1932. (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. 383, 427

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