La Pie Voleuse, ou La Servante de Palaiseau ("The thieving magpie or the servant from Palaiseau") is a melodrama ("mélodrame historique" ) in 3 acts by by Louis-Charles Caigniez (1762-1842)[1] and Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny (1786-1866)[2].

Also found simply as La Pie Voleuse

The original text

First performed in the Théâtre de la Porte St.-Martin on 29 April, 1815, and the text published by Barba (Paris) in 1815.

Translations and adaptations

The play appears to have been very popular and there appear to have been various other translations and adaptations of it around in the early 1800s, including:

The Magpie , or The Maid?

Translated and adapted as The Magpie , or The Maid? from the French by Isaac Pocock (1782–1835)[3] and first performed in September 15, 1815, at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. It was first printed in 1815 by John Miller and a second edition appeared in 1816.

Also found under the titles Magpie or the Maid, The Maid and the Magpie, or Who's the Thief!!!.

The Magpie; Or, the Maid of Palaiseau

There are two versions of the play called The Magpie; Or, the Maid of Palaiseau: one by Arnold, favoured by the comedian W. Oxberry (published in Boston by Wells and Lilly, 1822) and one attributed to Thomas Cooke (1782-1848), published by John Murray, 1815 - though this may simply have been the Pocock version.

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The French play was also the source for Giovanni Gherardini's libretto for Rossini's opera La gazza ladra (1817).

Performance history in South Africa

1832: Performed in English on 9 June 1832 by All the World's a Stage under the title The Maid and the Magpie, or Who's the Thief!!! (Pocock), announced as a "new domestic melodrama" by the company. (Bosman, 1928: p221-2). It was accompanied by The Married Bachelor, or Master and Man (O'Callaghan) and Bombastes Furioso, or The King of Utopia (Rhodes).

1835: Performed in English as The Magpie , or The Maid? as a benefit performance for Mrs Westcott in the Cape Town on 8 October 1835 by the Garrison Players, with Love, Law and Physic (Kenney) as afterpiece.