On Fait ce qu'on Peut et non pas ce qu'on Veut

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On Fait ce qu'on Peut et non pas ce qu'on Veut ("One does what one can, not what one wants") is a one act comédie-proverbe for two actors by Dorvigny (Louis-François Archambault - 1742-1812)[1]


The original text

Performed for the first time in Paris at Le Théâtre des Varieties Amusantes in 1779. Published in French by J.B. Broulhiet, rue Saint-Rome, Toulouse , in 1785.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into Dutch as Men Doet Wat Men Kan, Niet Wat Men Wil ("One does what one can, not what one wants") by Hendrik Ogelwight jr (1764-1841)[2], was published in 1787 (and again in 1805) in Amsterdam by Pieter Johannes Uylenbroek.

Performance history in South Africa

1806: First performed in South Africa on 31 May by a French Amateur Company in the African Theatre, Cape Town, and Bosman (1928) suggests that it may have been done in the Dutch version, as Men Doet Wat Men Kan, Niet Wat Men Wil. It was accompanied by performances of Pygmalion (Rousseau) and a Lyrische Scene ("lyric scene") by "De Heer Delémery"|).

1815: Produced on 11 November by Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense on 11 November, with the addition of De Struikroovers van Kalabrien, of De Onveilige Wildernis ( Tréogate) and Jean-Pierre-Diogenes, of L'Orateur dans un Tonneau ("The Speaker in a Barrel").


1819: Performed on 16 October by a new company called Men Doet Wat Men Kan in the African Theatre, Cape Town, with Dago, of De Spaansche Bedelaars (Cuvelier).

1836: Apparently enquiries about borrowing a text were made by Vlyt en Kunst sometime in January , though no there appears to have been no further record of a performance.

Sources

http://contentdm.warwick.ac.uk/cdm/ref/collection/Ancien/id/16506

http://www.earlydutchbooksonline.nl/nl/view/image/formtype/advanced/author/%22Dorvigny%22/searchaction/list/id/dpo%3A470%3Ampeg21

http://books.google.co.za/books?id=k9BPAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [3]: pp. 92,

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