AustLit
Latest Issues
Adaptations
-
form
y
The Octoroon
( dir. George Young
)
Australia
:
Australian Film Syndicate
,
1912
7598074
1912
single work
film/TV
'The camera, was shown to have been put to another use— to detect crime— in the star film, 'The Octoroon,' a most thrilling story adapted from Dion Boucicault's drama, screened by West's Pictures at Malcolm's Albury Olympia last evening. This was the sequel to the wrongful actions of a murderer, who had tried to upset an estate thereby causing the heroine to be sold as a slave and separated from her lover.'
Source:
'West's Pictures', The Border Morning Mail and Riverina Times, 27 March 1912, p.2.
-
An Octoroon
2017
single work
drama
'It’s the story of historical Louisiana. Or historical Far North Queensland. Or it’s the story of a black playwright. Or how race is portrayed on stage. Or maybe it’s about how they’re all the same story.
'Brash and provocative, this satirical comedy traces its roots back to an 1859 stage melodrama by crowd-pleasing Irish impresario Dion Boucicault. When the story of a man who scandalously falls for a slave on his Louisiana plantation premiered in New York, it helped fan the flames of the American Civil War.
'Today – with race still as incendiary a global issue as it was then – the dazzling and radical African-American playwright has torn apart and rebuilt the original text as a towering, immersive and wildly funny theatrical experience like no other.
'In a version subtly recontextualised to uncover and skewer Australia’s shameful history of slavery, leading Aboriginal artist and commentator Nakkiah Lui (Black Comedy, Black is the New White) makes her directorial debut in an Australian exclusive.' (Production summary)
Notes
-
The Octoroon is included in AustLit because it was produced in Australian theatres during the colonial era; and/or is the subject of Australian literary comment, adaptation or creative writing.
Production Details
-
First produced at The Winter Garden, New York, 6 December 1859. (Source: Nicoll, Allardyce. A History of English Drama 1660-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966.)
-
Performed at the Prince of Wales Opera House, Sydney, March 1868.
-
Performed at the Duke of Edinburgh Theatre, Melbourne, July 1868.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
The Theatres, &c.
1868
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australasian , 11 July vol. 5 no. 119 (New Series) 1868; (p. 50)
— Review of The Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana 1859 single work drama ; Our City 1868 single work drama ; The Ticket-of-Leave Man 1863 single work dramaA review of the performances of Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon, of W. B. Gill's Our City, and of Tom Taylor's The Ticket-of-Leave Man, all at the Duke of Edinburgh Theatre, Melbourne, July 1868.
-
Royal Victoria Theatre : Monster Attraction : Octoroon, &c.
1868
single work
advertisement
— Appears in: The Freeman's Journal , 20 June vol. 19 no. 1315 1868; (p. 15)An advertisement for the Royal Victoria Theatre production of Dion Bouciault's The Octoroon and John Palgrave Simpson's An Atrocious Criminal on 20 June 1868, and H. J. Byron's One Hundred Thousand Pounds and Michael Rophino Lacy's Doing for the Best on 22 June 1868; and advance notice that William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and H. J. Bryon's Pilgrim of Love are in preparation.
-
Victoria Theatre
1868
single work
review
— Appears in: The Empire , 22 June no. 5176 1868; (p. 2)
— Review of The Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana 1859 single work dramaA review of the 20 June 1868 Royal Victoria Theatre production of Dion Boucicault's Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana.
-
Royal Victoria Theatre : The Octoroon, &c.
1868
single work
advertisement
— Appears in: The Empire , 20 June no. 5175 1868; (p. 1)An advertisement for the Royal Victoria Theatre production of Dion Bouciault's The Octoroon and John Palgrave Simpson's An Atrocious Criminal on 20 June 1868.
-
Prince of Wales Opera House : The Octoroon, &c.
1868
single work
advertisement
— Appears in: The Empire , 21 March no. 5097 1868; (p. 1)An advertisement for the Prince of Wales Opera House production of Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon and Blanchard Jerrold's Cool as a Cucumber on 21 March 1868.
-
Victoria Theatre
1868
single work
review
— Appears in: The Empire , 22 June no. 5176 1868; (p. 2)
— Review of The Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana 1859 single work dramaA review of the 20 June 1868 Royal Victoria Theatre production of Dion Boucicault's Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana.
-
The Theatres, &c.
1868
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australasian , 11 July vol. 5 no. 119 (New Series) 1868; (p. 50)
— Review of The Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana 1859 single work drama ; Our City 1868 single work drama ; The Ticket-of-Leave Man 1863 single work dramaA review of the performances of Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon, of W. B. Gill's Our City, and of Tom Taylor's The Ticket-of-Leave Man, all at the Duke of Edinburgh Theatre, Melbourne, July 1868.
-
Prince of Wales Opera House : The Octoroon, &c.
1868
single work
advertisement
— Appears in: The Empire , 21 March no. 5097 1868; (p. 1)An advertisement for the Prince of Wales Opera House production of Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon and Blanchard Jerrold's Cool as a Cucumber on 21 March 1868.
-
y
Harlequin Robinson Crusoe ; Or, The Nimble Naiad, the Lonely Squatter, and the Lively Aboriginal
1868
Melbourne
:
R. Bell
,
1869
Z814472
1868
single work
musical theatre
pantomime
fantasy
A pantomime in five scenes, the story begins in the submarine world ruled by Ichthyologia, who causes a storm that wrecks Robinson Crusoe on an island. After falling asleep on a bank, Crusoe is discovered by Coralline, a water nymph, who falls in love with him. She subsequently has him carried off to a romantic dell in the island. This displeases Ichthyologia, and he threatens to turn Coralline into water if she persists in loving Crusoe. Complications set in, however, when Crusoe meets the octoroon Zoe, who inhabits the island with Friday and a company of Christy-style negro minstrels. He falls in love with her, not knowing that she is married to Friday. This relationship is a burlesque on Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon, while the Crusoe/Coralline relationship comments on the Pageant of British Worthies, including Shakespeare, Drake, Dickens, and Punch.
Containing a number of local references, the pantomime also includes songs of operatic style and other forms. The Argus critic notes that the production is treated in a thoroughly burlesque style, particularly the negro minstrel scenes. 'To make the the thing still more incongruous', writes the critic:
'Friday ... before his capture makes a stump speech in which allusions to Victorian politics and all sorts of events, occurs. The end of it all is that Crusoe is changed into Harlequin, Zoe into Columbine, Ichthyologia into Pantaloon and Friday into Clown, after which comes the transformation scene' (25 December 1868, p.5).
-
Royal Victoria Theatre : The Octoroon, &c.
1868
single work
advertisement
— Appears in: The Empire , 20 June no. 5175 1868; (p. 1)An advertisement for the Royal Victoria Theatre production of Dion Bouciault's The Octoroon and John Palgrave Simpson's An Atrocious Criminal on 20 June 1868.
-
Royal Victoria Theatre : Monster Attraction : Octoroon, &c.
1868
single work
advertisement
— Appears in: The Freeman's Journal , 20 June vol. 19 no. 1315 1868; (p. 15)An advertisement for the Royal Victoria Theatre production of Dion Bouciault's The Octoroon and John Palgrave Simpson's An Atrocious Criminal on 20 June 1868, and H. J. Byron's One Hundred Thousand Pounds and Michael Rophino Lacy's Doing for the Best on 22 June 1868; and advance notice that William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and H. J. Bryon's Pilgrim of Love are in preparation.
