De Oudste Zoon

De Oudste Zoon ('the eldest son") is a Dutch play in two acts ascribed to a "P. van de Velde".

The original text

adapted "from the French" by an anonymous translator.

According to F.C.L. Bosman (1980) the play is an original "tragedy" by Van de Velde", which suggests the author could possibly have been a local writer and member of Aurora II.

However, Van de Velde is also mentioned by Bosman as the translator (from the French) of a piece called Het Testament, which does suggest that this text may also have been an early adaptation by Van de Velde of Le Fils aîné de Veuve ("The eldest son of the widow")[1], a one-act French "drame-vaudeville" by Edmond-Frédéric Prieur Lubize (published by Jouhaud, 1836). Another Dutch version of the French text was done by H.P. Dewald, published in 1886 as De Oudste Zoon des Huizes ("The eldest son of the house"), and billed as a short Dutch play in 2 acts, written for the Rederijkers.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1868: A reading of the text was done in the hall of the Germania Liedertafel, Cape Town by Aurora II on 6 August, the text being ascribed to Van de Velde, along with a performance of Jan Sukkel by Wijnstok.