Deborah

Deborah is a German play by Salomon Hermann (von) Mosenthal (1821-1877)[1]

The original text

Based on the story of the travails of the Jewess "Rebecca" in Sir Walter Scott's famous novel Ivanhoe, Mosenthal's German version was first performed in Budapest and Vienna in 1849 and in Berlin in 1850. Published in Pesth (Pest, Hungary) by Heckenast and in Leipzig by Wigand in 1850.

Translations and adaptations

Besides many other theatrical works based on Ivanhoe, there were a number of English, French and Italian works inspired by Rebecca's story and Mosenthal's play.

Translated into French as Debora by Léon Halévy (published in 1860) and into Italian as Deborah by

Two English versions of the Mosenthal play opened in 1864: Deborah, or The Jewish Outcast, written by an unnamed author, opened at the Grecian Theatre, Hoxton, in February while Deborah, the Forsaken, or The Jewish Maiden's Wrong! (on occasion Leah the Forsaken, or The Jewish Maiden's Wrongs), by Charles Smith Cheltnam (1823-1912)[], opened at the Princes Theatre Glasgow on 18 May 1863, then played at the Royal Victoria Theatre in Waterloo in July, becoming almost as well-known as Daly's version.

Another kind of adaptation seems to have been Leah, the Forsaken by Augustin Daly (1838-1899)[2], who renamed the main character and offered his version as an original play. Perhaps the first English play inspired by Mosenthal's work, it was first performed in New York in 1862, followed by a run in the Adelphi Theatre, London during 1863-4, it became immensely popular.

For South African performances of Daly's play , see the entry on Leah, the Forsaken.

Performance history in South Africa

Sources

Nadia Valman. 2007. The Jewess in Nineteenth-Century British Literary Culture, Cambridge University Press: p.34-39[3]

Jonathan M. Hess. 2018. Deborah and Her Sisters: How One Nineteenth-Century Melodrama and a Host of Celebrated Actresses Put Judaism on the World Stage, University of Pennsylvania Press.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salomon_Hermann_Mosenthal

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

https://www.worldcat.org/title/deborah/oclc/614407116

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 1932. (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.221-2, 323-340, 350, 359, 363, 372.

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