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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
A story of a woman's love and self-sacrifice, and a sister's devotion (Brisbane Courier advertisement 20 July 1888, p.2).
Notes
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Alfred Dampier adapted and staged Jess, H. Rider Haggard's imperial romance set during the first Anglo-Boer War (1880-81) as a sensation melodrama. The March 1888 premiere occurred less than two years after it had been first serialised by the Cornill Magazine (May 1886-April 1887) and barely a year after Smith Edler published the first novelised edition (March 1887).Ailsa McPhearson notes that the play, as with Dampier's later reworking, A Transvaal Heroine (1896), was criticised by the colonial press for turning Haggard's characters into melodramatic stereotypes. The public nevertheless responded favourably to both productions and they became popular successes (258).
Production Details
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1888: Gaiety Theatre, Sydney; 3-16, 19-22 March (world premiere)
- Producer/Director Alfred Dampier; Lessee Laurence Foley; Scenic Art ALTA.
- Cast incl. Lily Dampier (Jess), Edmund Holloway (General Joubert), Harry Leston (Hans Coetzee), Harry Stoneham (Om Silas Croft), Ada Rochfort (Tanta Coetzee), Annie March (Bessie Croft), Alfred Boothman (Captain John Neil), Mr Cosgrove (Corporal Adam), Alice Edwards (Gretchen).
- The Jess season was interrupted on Saturday 17 March (St Patrick's Day) by a one-night production of Shamus O'Brien).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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y
Diversions in a Tented Field : Theatricality and the Images and Perceptions of Warfare in Sydney Entertainments, 1879-1902.
Sydney
:
2001
Z1914235
2001
single work
thesis
This thesis examines the theatricality which accompanied the establishment, development and deployment of the colonial army in New South Wales during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. It investigates the transfer to the colony of the military ethos of the Imperial power, and explores the ways in which performances of military spectacle, in both theatrical and paratheatrical contexts, were interpreted by the colonists.
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Footlight Flashes
1888
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Town and Country Journal , 10 March vol. 37 no. 948 1888; (p. 512)
— Review of Jess 1891 single work drama -
Amusements : Ggaiety Theatre
1888
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5 March 1888; (p. 5)
— Review of Jess 1891 single work drama -
Gaiety Theatre
1888
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 3 March 1888; (p. 2)
— Review of Jess 1891 single work drama
-
Gaiety Theatre
1888
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 3 March 1888; (p. 2)
— Review of Jess 1891 single work drama -
Amusements : Ggaiety Theatre
1888
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5 March 1888; (p. 5)
— Review of Jess 1891 single work drama -
Footlight Flashes
1888
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Town and Country Journal , 10 March vol. 37 no. 948 1888; (p. 512)
— Review of Jess 1891 single work drama -
y
Diversions in a Tented Field : Theatricality and the Images and Perceptions of Warfare in Sydney Entertainments, 1879-1902.
Sydney
:
2001
Z1914235
2001
single work
thesis
This thesis examines the theatricality which accompanied the establishment, development and deployment of the colonial army in New South Wales during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. It investigates the transfer to the colony of the military ethos of the Imperial power, and explores the ways in which performances of military spectacle, in both theatrical and paratheatrical contexts, were interpreted by the colonists.
Last amended 24 Aug 2017 16:37:30
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