Morocco Bound

Morocco Bound is a "musical farce comedy" by Arthur Branscombe ()[]

The original text

The play tells of "Spoofah Bey", an Irish adventurer, who enlists the help of a retired costermonger and an assortment of British characters to travel to Morocco, where the Irishman hoped to get the right to sell theatre concessions by convincing local Vizier that his companions are representatives of "the flower of the British music hall". In the end he succeeds with his business venture.

Written by Arthur Branscombe, with music by F. Osmond Carr (1858-1916)[1] and lyrics by Adrian Ross ()[], the play was first performed at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, on 13 April 1893, then transferred to the Trafalgar Square Theatre on 8 January 1894, and had a total of 295 performances.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1902-3: Performed in English (as La Poupee) by the Mouillot-De Jong Company, at the Opera House, Cape Town, as part of a season of musical comedy and light opera beginning in December of 1902 and running into 1903.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco_Bound#:~:text=Morocco%20Bound%20is%20a%20farcical,the%20management%20of%20Fred%20J.

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: p.412

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