L'Africaine, Or The Queen Of The Cannibal Islands
L'Africaine, Or The Queen Of The Cannibal Islands was an "Original Opera Burlesque" by Francis Cowley Burnand and Montagu Williams.
Also known simply as La Africaine
Contents
The original text
Burnand and Williams's burlesque opened at the Strand Theatre in London in 1865.
It had most probably been written as a parody of L'Africaine ("The African Woman")[1], a grand opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer, with a French libretto by Eugène Scribe. First performed by the Paris Opéra at the Salle Le Peletier on 28 April 1865, and in London at Covent Garden Theatre on 22 July 1865, New York on 1 December 1865.
Burnand's burlesque, entitled L'Africaine, Or The Queen Of The Cannibal Islands also opened at the Strand Theatre in London in 1865.
Published as La Africaine, Or The Queen Of The Cannibal Islands and called "An Original Opera Burlesque".
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1869: Performed under the title La Africaine, or High Tall Yawn Uproar, as part of the Grand Christy Entertainment Show by the 86th Royal Downshire Minstrels in the Oddfellows Hall on 19 April 1869.
Sources
William Davenport Adams. 1891. A book of burlesque, sketches of English stage travestie and parody:p. 184. Online facsimile version: Online library eBooksRead.com[2] Accessed: 2017/08/07 - 05h40.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Africaine
F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 264, 267
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