Difference between revisions of "The Octoroon"

From ESAT
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 5: Line 5:
 
==The original text==
 
==The original text==
  
Boucicault's melodrama about the love between a white man and an octoroon girl (i.e. a girl of one-eighth African descent)  was a stage adaptation of the novel ''[[The Quadroon]]''[] by Thomas Mayne Reid (1856)[], about the residents of a Louisiana plantation called Terrebonne.  
+
Boucicault's melodrama about the love between a white man and an octoroon girl (i.e. a girl of one-eighth African descent)  was a stage adaptation of the novel ''The Quadroon, or A Lover's Adventures in Louisiana'' (1856) by Thomas Mayne Reid (1818-1883)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mayne_Reid], about the residents of a Louisiana plantation called Terrebonne.  
  
 
The play was first staged in 1859 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City, and became extremely popular, running continuously for years, and performed by seven road companies. It was considered second in popularity only to the varuious adaptations of '''''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]''''' (1852-3). The novel and the play sparked debates about the abolition of slavery,  and in the latter case about the role of theatre in politics.
 
The play was first staged in 1859 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City, and became extremely popular, running continuously for years, and performed by seven road companies. It was considered second in popularity only to the varuious adaptations of '''''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]''''' (1852-3). The novel and the play sparked debates about the abolition of slavery,  and in the latter case about the role of theatre in politics.

Revision as of 06:02, 11 November 2020

The Octoroon is a melodrama by Dion Boucicault (1820-1890)[1].

Also known as The Octoroon, or Life in Louisiana.

The original text

Boucicault's melodrama about the love between a white man and an octoroon girl (i.e. a girl of one-eighth African descent) was a stage adaptation of the novel The Quadroon, or A Lover's Adventures in Louisiana (1856) by Thomas Mayne Reid (1818-1883)[2], about the residents of a Louisiana plantation called Terrebonne.

The play was first staged in 1859 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City, and became extremely popular, running continuously for years, and performed by seven road companies. It was considered second in popularity only to the varuious adaptations of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852-3). The novel and the play sparked debates about the abolition of slavery, and in the latter case about the role of theatre in politics.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1866: Performed in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 22-23 May by the Le Roy and Duret Company.

1866: Performed in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 24 May by the Le Roy and Duret Company, with Bachelor's Buttons (Stirling), as a "complimentary Testimonial to the favourite artiste Mme. Duret by her Admirers".

1867: Performed by "Le Roy's Original Company" in the Theatre Royal, Harrington Street, Cape Town on 11 and 14 February, with An April Fool (Halliday and Brough).

1867: Performed by the Le Roy-Duret Company in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on 16 February, with Mrs Green's Snug Little Business (Cheltnam) as afterpiece.

1868: Act 3 of the play performed in the old Oddfellows Hall Cape Town by the Le Roy and Duret Company on 14 May along with The Lady and the Devil (Clarence) and A Comical Countess (Brough)

1876: Performed by the company of Disney Roebuck on May 6, 1876, as the opening production of his new Theatre Royal, in Burg Street, Cape Town.

1884-5: Performed by the Henry Harper Company in the new Theatre Royal, Cape Town, as part of Henry Harper's first season as lessee and manager of the venue.

1914 - Performed at the Palladium Theatre, Johannesburg, opening on 5 October 1914. Produced by Edward Vincent, the cast included Ethel Bracewell, Stephen Scanlan, Austin Milroy, Shelagh Conway, Florence Creagh, Frank Lynne, Dick Cruikshanks, Herbert Lewis, Cecil De Lee and Martha Rowson.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Octoroon

Rand Daily Mail, 6 October 1914

World Drama, by Allardyce Nicoll.

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 204-207, 210, 221-3, 294, 322-335, 339-351, 366, 380



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