Britain's Brave Tars, or All for Saint Paul's
Britain's Brave Tars, or All for Saint Paul's is a special celebratory piece John O'Keeffe (1747 – 1833)[1], written for the celebration of naval victories.
Contents
The original text
Also billed simply as Britain's Brave Tars!!, it was first performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden in 1797, as part of the events celebrating the British naval victories. Apparently only acted twice.
The text was printed by T. Woodfall for T. N. Longman, 1796.
Translations and adaptations
A play billed as The Tars of Old England was apparently performed in Cape Town in 1808, and was possibly a new version of Britain's Brave Tars, or All for Saint Paul's, a special celebratory piece by John O'Keeffe, written for the naval victories of 1797. O'Keeffe's work was popular in Cape Town at the time, and Britain was once more at war. However it could also have been an adaptation of Tobias Smollett[2]'s play The Reprisal, or The Tars of Old England, given the title and the description of it as a "delightful comedy".
Performance history in South Africa
1808: Possibly performed as The Tars of Old England in the African Theatre, Cape Town by the Garrison Players on 16 July, 1808, with The Agreeable Surprise (O'Keeffe).
Sources
http://www.amazon.com/The-Reprisal-Tars-Old-England/dp/1165884445
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Smollett
http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=20658&back=
Holger Hoock: Empires of the Imagination: Politics, War, and the Arts in the British World, 1750-1850 Google eBook: p. 140
F.C.L. Bosman. 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [3]: p. 76
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