Miriam's Crime

Miriam's Crime is a drama in three acts by H.T. Craven (Henry Thornton Craven, 1818-1905)[1].

The original text

Though nothing of the nature is noted in any of the original texts, Bosman (1980) notes that it was perceived as a "moral piece" and was once billed as being "adapted from the celebrated novel". It may be possible that the play was very loosely based on the character and notorious history of of "Miriam" in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni (published in 1860).

First performed in the Royal Strand Theatre, London on 9 October, 1863.

Published in New York by De Witt in 1863 (as No 45 of De Witt's Acting Plays).

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1865: Performed by the Ray and Cooper Company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 30 October (and billed as Craven's great two-act Comedy"), with Villikins and his Dinah (Burnand).

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 5 July (now correctly billed a play in 3 acts, and said to be "adapted from the celebrated novel"), with The Daughter of the Regiment (Fitzball).

1877: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 23 October (now billed the "admired Comedy Drama in 3 Acts"), with A Pretty Piece of Business (Morton) and a song by Miss Wynne.

1889: Performed by the Luscombe Searelle company in the Exhibition Theatre, Cape Town, as part of a season of plays with which the company toured the country. A star member of the company was the London comedian, Lionel Brough.

Sources

Online Books by H. T. Craven, The Online Books Page [2]

Facsimile version of the 1863 text, Hathi Trust Digital Library [3]

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

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.192-3, 325, 361, 388

William Groom. 1899-1900. Drama in Cape Town. Cape Illustrated Magazine, 10(4): 478-481, 517-520, 547-552, 580-584, 640-643, 670-672, 706-708.

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