L'homme à Trois Visages, ou Le Proscrit

L'homme à Trois Visages, ou Le Proscrit ("The man in three guises, or the exile") is three act play by René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt (1773–1844)[1].

The original text

De Pixérécourt's play is a French adaptation - much shortened and totally rewritten - of Abällino, der Grosse Bandit ("Abällino the Great Bandit"), a 5-act German tragedy by Heinrich Zschokke (1771 - 1848)[2], based on his novel of the same name.

The play was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique[3] in Paris in 1801.

Translations and adaptations

The French three-act version was translated into Dutch as De Man in Drie Gedaanten, of De Balling ("The man in three guises, or the exile") by G.L.P. Sievers, and performed in 1801, simultaneously in Amsterdam with the French version in Paris. Published Amsterdam by J. Dóll, 1802.

NOTE: This encyclopaedia also contains an entry on a satirical work entitled "De Man in Vier Gedaanten, of Musicus, Acteur, Gaskonjer en Taalmeester" ("The man in three guises, or musician, actor, Gascon and language teacher") by the Cape Town author Joseph Suasso de Lima, listed in an advert in the South African Chronicle of 15 June 1825 as one of a series to be published by subscription. Entirely unrelated to this work, though the title was obviously chosen in imitation of this play's title.