Difference between revisions of "Leah, the Forsaken"
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| − | ''[[Leah, the Forsaken]]'' is a play in five acts by Augustin Daly ()[] | + | ''[[Leah, the Forsaken]]'' is a play in five acts by Augustin Daly (1838-1899)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin_Daly], |
(Also found as '''''[[Leah the Forsaken, or The Jewish Maiden's Wrongs]]''''' and often referred to simply as '''''[[Leah]]'''''). | (Also found as '''''[[Leah the Forsaken, or The Jewish Maiden's Wrongs]]''''' and often referred to simply as '''''[[Leah]]'''''). | ||
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Apparently the English play was '''''[[Deborah]]''''', the German play by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal ()[]. | Apparently the English play was '''''[[Deborah]]''''', the German play by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal ()[]. | ||
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==The original text== | ==The original text== | ||
| − | Based on the story of the travails of the Jewess "Rebecca" in Sir Walter Scott's famous novel '''''[[Ivanhoe]]''''', Daly seems to have used Salomon Hermann Mosenthal's German | + | Based on the story of the travails of the Jewess "Rebecca" in Sir Walter Scott's famous novel '''''[[Ivanhoe]]''''', Daly seems to have used Salomon Hermann Mosenthal's German version of the story, '''''[[Deborah]]''''', as his source. The German play 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. |
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| + | ''[[Leah, the Forsaken]]'' was first performed in New York in 1862, followed by a run in the Adelphi Theatre, London during 1863-4, and became immensely popular. | ||
==Translations and adaptations== | ==Translations and adaptations== | ||
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== Performance history in South Africa == | == Performance history in South Africa == | ||
Revision as of 06:05, 8 January 2021
Leah, the Forsaken is a play in five acts by Augustin Daly (1838-1899)[1],
(Also found as Leah the Forsaken, or The Jewish Maiden's Wrongs and often referred to simply as Leah).
Apparently the English play was Deborah, the German play by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal ()[].
Contents
The original text
Based on the story of the travails of the Jewess "Rebecca" in Sir Walter Scott's famous novel Ivanhoe, Daly seems to have used Salomon Hermann Mosenthal's German version of the story, Deborah, as his source. The German play 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.
Leah, the Forsaken was first performed in New York in 1862, followed by a run in the Adelphi Theatre, London during 1863-4, and became immensely popular.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1867: Performed for the first time in South Africa as Leah the Forsaken, or The Jewish Maiden's Wrongs by "Le Roy's Original Company" in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town on 18 and 25 February, with The Legend of St Croix ("A gentleman of Port Elizabeth").
1875: Performed as Leah, or The Forsaken by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 5 April, with The Illustrious Stranger (Kenney and Milligen).
1875: Performed as Leah, or The Jewish Maiden by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 24 July. The afterpiece of the evening was apparently The Illustrious Stranger (Reece) , but the entry for this date in F.C.L. Bosman (1980:p.325) is rather confusing, giving the afterpiece as Brown and the Brahmins or Captain Pop and the Princess Pretty eyes (sic!) or The Illustrious Stranger" - i.e. giving the whole of burlesque's pedigree.
1878: Leah, the Forsaken performed on 30 and 31 August by the Smith and Thatcher Company in the Athenaeum Hall, Cape Town, with Ada Ward, Henry Smith and Richard Thatcher. (The second evening included a "screaming race" on the bill.)
Sources
Nadia Valman. 2007. The Jewess in Nineteenth-Century British Literary Culture, Cambridge University Press: p.34-39[2]
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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