The Owl and the Pussycat

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The Owl and the Pussycat is a 1964 Broadway stage play written by Hollywood screenwriter and producer and playwright Bill Manhoff (1919-1974) [1].

The title was borrowed from but unrelated to a nonsense poem The Owl and the Pussycat written by Edward Lear, first published during 1871 [2].

The original text

Translations and adaptations

A subsequent 1970 movie featuring Barbra Streisand and George Segal was based on the stage play.

Performance history in South Africa

Manhoff's play was the opening production of the Academy Theatre in 1967, starring Barbara Kinghorn and Christopher Galloway. It was directed by Joan Brickhill and Louis Burke.

Rhodes University Drama Department The Owl and the Pussycat by Sheila Ruskin [3] and David Wood [4]], based on the stories and verses of Edward Lear, directed by Jane Osborne in August 1976.

Slightly retitled The Owl and the Pussycat Went to See..., the Ruskin/Wood adaptation was produced by Sue Broer for the UCT Drama Department and staged at the Arena Theatre for the 1973 Christmas holidays. Amongst those in the cast who went on to acting careers were Gillian Harris, Jane Auld, Pippa Dyer, Jonathan Rands, Diana Cox, Etienne Puren and Judith Krummeck.

Sources

Theatre programme (Academy Theatre) held by NELM: [Collection: Theatre programmes]: 2009. 80. 90.

Programmes held by NELM: [Collection: Rhodes University. Drama Department]: 2011. 370. 2. 4.

The Argus, 12 December 1973

Cape Times, 15 December 1973

Theatre programme amongst the Jonathan Rands papers

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