Reformation

From ESAT
Revision as of 16:39, 28 April 2015 by Satj (talk | contribs) (→‎Sources)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

A comic interlude in one act. The authorship of this work is very uncertain, it being credited, depending on the source, to an Anonymous author, a J.B.Pulham, or a Mr Bernard.

The original text

Usually indicated as written by an Anonymous author in the South African source (F.C.L. Bosman, 1928) and also most copies of the play on sale on the internet today.

However, in a list of "Dramatic Works published by C.Chapple..", published in the back of the published text of My wife or My Place (Shannon and Thackeray, C. Chapple: 1831), a play by this name is listed as having been written by "J.B.Pulham" and available at a price of "1s 6d"[1]

In The Tatler No 241 of Saterday June 11, 1831[2] on the other hand, a playbill from the Queen's Theatre is reproduced which claims the authorship for a Mr Bernard.

These authorship claims, and the South African performance, seem to suggest two things: (a) that a play by this name must have been first performed in England no later than 1827 and (b) (a little more unlikely) that there may be three plays by exactly the same name from that period.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1828: Produced in the African Theatre, Cape Town by the English Theatrical Amateur Company on 9 May, as a benefit for Mrs Black, billed as Interlude, performed between The Mogul Tale, or The Descent of the Balloon (Inchbald) and Trick for Trick, or The Admiral's Daughter (Anonymous).

Sources

Facsimile version of a list of Dramatic Works published by C.Chapple in My Wife or My Place (Shannon and Thackeray, 1831): Google eBook[3]

Facsimile version of The Tatler No 241 of Saterday June 11, 1831: Google eBook[4]

http://www.amazon.com/Reformation-comic-interlude-prose-etc/dp/1241033692

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928: pp. 201,

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Return to

Return to PLAYS I: Original SA plays

Return to PLAYS II: Foreign plays

Return to PLAYS III: Collections

Return to PLAYS IV: Pageants and public performances

Return to South African Festivals and Competitions

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page