Le Chien de Montargis, ou la Forêt de Bondy

Le Chien de Montargis, ou la Forêt de Bondy is a French melodrama by René Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt (1774-1844)[1].

The original text

The plot is based on a legend from the 14th century, as recorded in a letter from Julius Caesar Scaliger, who tells of a French courtier who was murdered in the forest of Bondy, north of Paris. The only witness to the murder was his dog, which pursued Robert Macaire, the perpetrator, until he was captured. The king ordered that Macaire, armed with a stick, and the dog should fight a duel, which took place on the Isle de Notre Dame, and the dog won, forcing Macaire to confess and be hanged. (See Tamsin Pickeral, 2012: p.134).

The play premiered on 18 June 1814 as Le Chien de Montargis, ou la Forêt de Bondy, described as a "mélodrame historique en trois actes et à grand spectacle", at the Parisian Théâtre de la Gaîté on Boulevard du Temple, produced and directed by De Pixérécourt. It ran uninterrupted run in the Théâtre de la Gaîté's repertoire until 1834.

The French text was published in Paris by Barba in 1814.

Translations and adaptations

The basic tale and Pixérécourt's original dramatization have been used as source material, translated and adapted into various languages over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. English versions by various authors, are broadly found under two main titles: Those using The Dog of Montargis (or The Dog of Montarges), and/or The Forest of Bondy, on the one hand; and - particularly after the 1830s- those using the title Robert Macaire on the other.

For plays using the Macaire's name as (or in) the title, see the entry on Robert Macaire

For plays using the phrases The Dog of Montargis (or The Dog of Montarges) and/or The Forest of Bondy in their titles, see below:

The Dog of Montargis, or The Forest of Bondy, a two-act adaptation by William Barrymore. Barrymore's version was originally titled Murder Will Out, but the alternate title of The Dog of Montargis, or The Forest of Bondy would become the more commonly used. First performed in London on 30 September 1814 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.

The Dog of Montarges, or Murder in the Wood by

The Forest of Bondy, or The Dog of Montargis, "a Melo drama in 3 Acts" attributed to Sir Henry Bishop and published in Baltimore, Md. by J. Robinson in 1816.

The Dog of Montargis, or The Forest of Bondy, a melodrama in two acts by Thomas Dibdin ()[] Published in London by T.H. Lacy in 1860(?).

Performance history in South Africa

1860: Performed as The Dog of Montargis, or The Forest of Bondy (no author given) by the Sefton Parry and his company in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on 7 and 8 May, "in unprecedented style" and including a "live, intelligent, Newfoundland dog". The evening included a dance by Miss Powell.