Lavater the Physiognomist, or Not a Bad Judge
Lavater the Physiognomist, or Not a Bad Judge is a comic drama, in two acts by James Robinson Planché (1796-1880)
Also known as Not a Bad Judge or even, in at least one case, as Not a Bad Judge, or Lavater, the Physiognomist.
Contents
The original text
First performed at the Olympic Theatre in London on 2 March, 1848 and first seen in the USA at the Lyceum Theatre, Boston in 1849.
Originally published in 1848 as: Not a Bad Judge by Thomas Hailes Lacy, London, in 1848 and as Lavater the Physiognomist, or Not a Bad Judge in London and New York, Samuel French in the same year. Later published (also with the full title) by Samuel French as Issue 214 of French's standard drama (The Acting edition) in 1856 and W.V. Spencer, Boston, as No 172 of Spencer's Boston Theatre (1858?).
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1859: Performed as Not a Bad Judge, or Lavater, the Physiognomist on 1 February Cape Town Dramatic Club, in the Cape Town Theatre in Harrington street, with Betsy Baker!, or Too Attentive by Half (Morton), featuring miss Annie Rowlands as "Betsy".
Sources
Facsimile version of the Lacy 1848 edition, Hathi Trust Digital Library[1]
Facsimile version of the Spencer 1858 edition, Hathi Trust Digital Library[2]
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 1923. (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: pp. 99
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