Montoni, ou Le Chateau d'Udolphe

Montoni, ou Le Chateau d'Udolphe is a French melodrama in 5 acts by Alexandre Duval (1767-1842)[1].

The original text

It is one of a number of French plays based on Mrs Ann Radcliffe's immensely popular 18th century gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)[2]. (See The Mysteries of Udolpho)

Duval's version was first performed at the Théatre de S.M. l'Impératrice, on 29 July 1813 and published in Paris by Fages in the same year.

Translations and adaptations

The Duval version was translated into Dutch as Montoni, of Het Kasteel van Udolpho by A. Bruggemans (1763-1841)[3] and published in Amsterdam by J.W. Smit, in 1800.

A second, and slightly different, Dutch stage version of the novel, by an unknown author (though the source seems to suggest it may also have been Bruggemans), is called Het Testament, of De Geheimen van Udolpho, and was also published in Amsterdam by J.W. Smit, this one in 1801.

The best known English stage version is The Mysteries of Udolpho, or The Phantom of the Castle, a drama in five acts by John Baylis, apparently based on a French version, most probably also Duval's. This was never performed in its time, but published in 1804. The text was later performed however, e.g. at the Stalybridge Grand, July 20, 1901 and in West London, September, 1904.

Performance history in South Africa

1819: First performed in Dutch by Het Hollandsch Toneellievend Gezelschap (Men doet wat men kan) in the African Theatre, Cape Town, on 10 July 1819. Repeated on 25 September 1819

1836 Performed in Dutch by Vlyt en Kunst in the African Theatre on 10 September 1836, with music composed by Mr W. Brandt; alongside the afterpiece Nognetzoo (Boniface), a one-act comedy called Het Fancy Bal!!!, and, as an interlude, a "zeer prachtig Transparant" ("a very beautiful transparency" (as cited by Bosman) by Den Heer Poortemans. Music provided by the musical group De Vriendschap

1838: Performed in Dutch by Vlyt en Kunst in Liefhebbery Toneel ("the amateur theatre") on 9 September, under the directorship of J.J. de Kock, followed by a "comic ballet dance".