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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Arguably the most famous stage adaptation of Emile Zola's 1877 novel, L'Assommoir, and also a French stage adaptation (collaboratively written by William Busnach and Octave Gastineau), the story is a study of alcoholism and poverty in the working-class districts of Paris. The novel became a huge commercial success and established Zola's fame and reputation throughout France and the world. It's popularity also extended to the French and English stage adaptations.
Adaptations
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Boozed
1888
single work
musical theatre
burlesque
humour
satire
Presented in four acts, Boozed loosely follows the narrative action of Drink. A synopsis, included in advertising shows, for example:
- Act 1. The Washhouse - The Desperate Fight;
- Act 2. The Café - Have A Water Melon;
- Act 3. The Desolate Home - Gee-A-Way And The Twins - Cop Out;
- Act 4. The Scaffold - The Fall - The Dummy Disabled - Retribution
[Source: Age 25 February 1888, p.14]
Notes
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The 1879 English adaptation was the result of a commission by John Hollingshead, the manager of London's Gaiety Theatre. It premiered, however, at the Princess Theatre.
In Theatre, Culture and Temperance Reform in Nineteenth-Century America (2003), John W. Frick writes:
Aided by a tour de force performance by noted actor Charles Warner, who became acclaimed for his portrayal of Coueau and for the intensity of his delirium tremens scene, Reade's Drink met with success, not only in London, but throughout Grerat Britain, in the United States and even as far afield as Australia (p.172).
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The play's popularity and subject matter saw it burlesqued and copied frequently. In addition to Edward Glover's 1888 Australian production, other known English burlesques and imitations include: Another Drink (1879), The Worship of Bacchus (1879), Intemperance; Or, a Drunkard's Sin (1879), Man's Folly or Drink (1879), D.T.; Or, Lost Through Drink (1879), L'Assommoir; Or, the Demon Drink (1879), A Free Adaptation of the Curse of Drink (1879), and Gin (1880).
[Source: E. S. Shaffer, ed. Comparative Criticism: Volume 1, The Literary Canon: A Yearbook (1979)]
Production Details
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Drink was first produced at the Princess Theatre, London, on 2 June 1879.
