Princess Ida, or Castle Adamant

Princess Ida, or Castle Adamant is a comic opera by W.S. Gilbert (1836–1911)[1] and Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900)[2].

Popularly referred to simply as Princess Ida

The original text

This is musical comedy about a princess who founds a women's university to teach that women are superior to men, and the prince she had married as an infant, who sneaks into the university with friends to collect his bride. When discovered, a war between the sexes breaks out.

It was first performed at the Savoy Theatre on 5 January 1884 and had 246 performances.

The book for Princess Ida was based on one of Gilbert's earlier plays, The Princess[3], which is a blank verse farcical work, in five scenes with music, first produced at the Olympic Theatre in London on 8 January 1870.

Gilbert's play had in turn been based on The Princess (1847)[4], a narrative poem (styled "A medley") by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)[5]. Gilbert himself once described Princess Ida as a "a whimsical allegory ... a respectful operatic per-version" of Tennyson's poem [].

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1893: Performed in the Opera House Cape Town by the Lyric Opera Company, as part of their repertoire while touring the country at the time, and featuring Leonora Braham.

ca.1900: Performed by the Woodstock Amateur Operatic Society under the direction of Amos Bailey, with the orchestra conducted by Frank Robb.

1938: Staged by the Port Elizabeth Gilbert & Sullivan Society

1943: Staged by the Port Elizabeth Gilbert & Sullivan Society

1961: Staged by the Cape Town Gilbert and Sullivan Society

1968: Staged by the Cape Town Gilbert and Sullivan Society

1982: Staged by the Cape Town Gilbert and Sullivan Society

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Ida

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_and_Sullivan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._S._Gilbert

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Sullivan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_(W._S._Gilbert_play)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_(Tennyson_poem)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred,_Lord_Tennyson

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, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 130, 397-8

Jill Fletcher. 1994. The Story of Theatre in South Africa: A Guide to its History from 1780-1930. Cape Town: Vlaeberg

Go to ESAT Bibliography