Difference between revisions of "The Somnabulist"

From ESAT
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 13: Line 13:
 
== Performance history in South Africa ==
 
== Performance history in South Africa ==
  
 +
1857: Performed by the [[Boscawen Amateurs]] in Simonstown on 28 December, with ''[[Who Speaks First?]]'' (Dance) as a benefit evening for the Indian Sufferers Relief Fund. 
  
 
1901: ''[[The Somnabulist]]'' performed in the [[Oddfellows Hall]], Cape Town, by [[Morris Waxman]] and his [[Hebrew Artistes]]
 
1901: ''[[The Somnabulist]]'' performed in the [[Oddfellows Hall]], Cape Town, by [[Morris Waxman]] and his [[Hebrew Artistes]]

Revision as of 20:19, 10 May 2018

The Somnabulist is a play in two acts by William Thomas Moncrieff (1794-1857)[1]

Also found as The Somnambulist, or The Phantom of the Village

The original text

Called "A Dramatic Entertainment", it is in fact in a burlesque based on La Somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un Nouveau Seigneur, a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer, music composed by Ferdinand Hérold. Produced in 1827 and quite popular in Paris, the unpublished Scribe work inspired many more works, including Vincenzo Bellini's well-known Italian opera La Sonnambula, or The Sleepwalker.

Moncrieff's text was published as The Somnabulist in Issue 224 of Dicks' Standard Plays. Published as The Somnambulist, or The Phantom of the Village by J. Cumberland, 1899

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1857: Performed by the Boscawen Amateurs in Simonstown on 28 December, with Who Speaks First? (Dance) as a benefit evening for the Indian Sufferers Relief Fund.

1901: The Somnabulist performed in the Oddfellows Hall, Cape Town, by Morris Waxman and his Hebrew Artistes

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_somnambule,_ou_L%27arriv%C3%A9e_d%27un_nouveau_seigneur

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

https://books.google.co.za/books/about/The_Somnambulist.html?id=DkYSHQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

https://books.google.co.za/books/about/The_Somnambulist_Or_the_Phantom_of_the_V.html?id=jVgPMwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

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 1923. (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. 408

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