Convict Once single work   drama  
Issue Details: First known date: 1896... 1896 Convict Once
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Melodrama.

The story concerns a beautiful young woman who suffers so that her loved but unworthy father may be saved from a just retribution.

Notes

  • Eric Irvin records that Darrell first staged Convict Once ('another of his not quite successful plays') in Brisbane sometime around mid-1896 (ctd. Gentleman George, q.v., p192).
  • There is some confusion over this play and one of its possible variant titles. In Gentleman George (q.v.), Eric Irvin indicates that throughout his career George Darrell would restage some plays under different titles, sometimes slightly changed (p215). According to Irvin (on page 185) The Crimson Thread was later called Convict Once, The Crimes of Chicago and From Scotland Yard. However, in the list of plays presented in the biography's appendix (including first production dates), Irvin mentions only The Crimes of Chicago and From Scotland Yard under The Crimson Thread section (217). Although he collates Convict Once (q.v.) and The Crimson Thread in the Convict Once section (further down the same page) Irvin provides a different premiere date for The Crimson Thread to that given above (1896 as opposed to 1894). To add to the confusion Irvin appears to treat both plays as unrelated when referring to Darrell's movements in 1886 (following his Sydney season at her Majesty's Theatre). Here Irvin writes :

    A fortnight's run of The Sunny South was followed by thirteen performances of The Crimson Thread... He tried [Trilby] out first in Brisbane, playing Svengali himslef, but not until he had given the first performance of another of his not quite successful plays, Convict Once (192).

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

The Play 1896 single work column
— Appears in: The Free-Lance , 17 October vol. 1 no. 26 1896; (p. 4-5)
A column canvassing current stage productions in Sydney and Melbourne. Included in the overview are some comments on Alfred Dampier's Robbery under Arms and George Darrell's Convict Once.
The Play 1896 single work column
— Appears in: The Free-Lance , 17 October vol. 1 no. 26 1896; (p. 4-5)
A column canvassing current stage productions in Sydney and Melbourne. Included in the overview are some comments on Alfred Dampier's Robbery under Arms and George Darrell's Convict Once.
Last amended 17 Sep 2008 11:10:18
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