Ici on Parle Français

Ici on Parle Français ("Here we speak French") is an English farce in one act by Thomas John Williams (1824-1874)

Sometimes found wrongly written as Ici on Parle Francais.

The original text

First performed at the Adelphi Theatre, London in 1859.

Published as Issue 297 of French's minor drama, by Samuel French

The title also found as Ici on Parle Français, or The Major's Mistake in the new 1889 publication of the text by H. Roorbach, New York.

Translations and adaptations

F.C.L. Bosman (1980) for some reason ascribes the play Ici on Parle Français to a "W.S. Robins" on one occasion (p. 361), and also lists it thus in his Index, and never mentions Williams as the author.

This is probably a reference to a 1892 mimed burlesque version of Williams's play, mentioned in The Era Almanack and Annual, 1892 (p.68), where an ad for Toole's theatre company refers to a piece called Ici on (ne) Parle (pas) Français ("Here we (do not) speak French"), "a farce without words", apparently devised and performed by Toole, who had performed the Williams play over a thousand times, with musical accompaniment by W. S. Robins, opening on 18 June of the year.

Performance history in South Africa

1861: Performed as Ici on Parle Français by Sefton Parry and his company in the Theatre Royal on 1 July, with The Bonnie Fishwife (Selby) and The Rough Diamond (Buckstone)

1861: Performed as Ici on Parle Français on 14 October in the new Theatre Royal, Cape Town by the Sefton Parry company, followed by Aladdin, or The Wonderful Lamp.

1868: Performed as Ici on Parle Français by the Lanarkshire Dramatic Club (amateur players from the 99th Regiment) in the Garrison Theatre, Cape Town, on 21 October, with The Irish Post (Planché), Irish songs by Lieutenant Tanner and a song ("The Long-tail'd Blue"") by "the infant phenomenon".

1876: Performed as Ici on Parle Français on 12 May in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, by the Disney Roebuck company, as afterpiece to Robert Macaire (Byron).

1877: Performed as Ici on Parle Français (here ascribed to "W.S. Robins") on 8 October in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by the Disney Roebuck company, as afterpiece to The School for Scandal (Sheridan), as a benefit for E.V. Sinclair and Maude Clifford.