Difference between revisions of "Le Truc d' Arthur"

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==The original text==
 
==The original text==
  
Some critics at the time pointed out that the French play was itself was a modernised version of Marivaux's play '''''[[Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard]]''''' (first performed 23 January 1730 by the Comédie Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne), in which a young woman is visited by her betrothed, whom she does not know. To get a better idea of the type of person he is, she trades places with her servant and disguises herself. However, unbeknownst to her, her fiancé has the same idea and trades places with his valet. The "game" pits the two false servants against the two false masters, and in the end, the couples fall in love with their appropriate counterpart. (Marivaux's play was translated into English as ''[[The Game of Love and Chance]]'').  
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Some critics at the time pointed out that the French play was itself was based on and/or a modernised version of Marivaux's play '''''[[Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard]]''''' (first performed 23 January 1730 by the Comédie Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne), telling of a young woman who is visited by her betrothed, whom she does not know. To get a better idea of the type of person he is, she trades places with her servant and disguises herself. However, unbeknownst to her, her fiancé has the same idea and trades places with his valet. The "game" pits the two false servants against the two false masters, and in the end, the couples fall in love with their appropriate counterpart. (Marivaux's play was translated into English as ''[[The Game of Love and Chance]]'').  
  
 
The Dudu and Chivot comedy was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal 14 October, 1882.  
 
The Dudu and Chivot comedy was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal 14 October, 1882.  

Revision as of 05:48, 11 May 2020

Le Truc d' Arthur ("Arthur's trick") is a French comedy in three acts by Alfred Duru (1829-1889)[1] and Henri Chivot (1830-1897)[2].


The original text

Some critics at the time pointed out that the French play was itself was based on and/or a modernised version of Marivaux's play Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard (first performed 23 January 1730 by the Comédie Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne), telling of a young woman who is visited by her betrothed, whom she does not know. To get a better idea of the type of person he is, she trades places with her servant and disguises herself. However, unbeknownst to her, her fiancé has the same idea and trades places with his valet. The "game" pits the two false servants against the two false masters, and in the end, the couples fall in love with their appropriate counterpart. (Marivaux's play was translated into English as The Game of Love and Chance).

The Dudu and Chivot comedy was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal 14 October, 1882.

The French text was also published by P.V. Stock, as Volume 9 of Auteurs dramatiques, in 1908.

Translations and adaptations

Le Truc d' Arthur was adapted into English as Gloriana (after the English name for the widow), "a light comedy in three acts" by James Mortimer (1833-1911)[]. In Mortimer's version it becomes a comedy about an amorous state official who changes place with his valet to enter the service of a dashing widow, whom he admires, and to avoid an engagement to the daughter of a vulgar tanner, who turns out to be the widow's landlord. Her maid had once been deserted by the valet and the widow is herself is engaged to a Russian count. First performed (as Gloriana) at the Globe Theatre, London, on 10 November 1891 and in New York on 15 February 15, 1892. The title was later changed to My Artful Valet in other productions.

Performance history in South Africa

1903: Performed as My Artful Valet by the James Welch Company as part of a season of plays that also included The New Clown (Paull), Cousin Kate (Howard) and The Man in the Street (Parker).

1904: The James Welch Company returned to the Opera House, Cape Town at the beginning of the year for another short season with the four plays.

Sources

https://data.bnf.fr/39494505/le_truc_d_arthur_spectacle_1882/

The Theatre, Volume 28[3]

J.P. Wearing. 2013. The London Stage 1890-1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Scarecrow Press: p. 92.[4]


Review of Gloriana by Willa Cather, Nebraska State Journal, January 10, 1894:p.6[5]

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.203-205

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