Child of Nature, The.
Translated by England’s First Female Theater Critic
[Theater]. Inchbald, Mrs. (Elizabeth). The Child of Nature. A Dramatic Piece, in Four Acts. From the French of madame the Marchioness of Sillery, formerly Countess of Genlis. Performing at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. London: Printed for G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1788.
8vo.; printed wrappers, string-tied; original upper and lower wrappers missing; small tear on p. 20; light foxing throughout.
First edition of Madame de Genlis’ Zélie, ou l’Ingénue, a five-act comedy that was included in the collection Théâtre de société, which was first published in France in 1781. The play takes place in Spain, and the protagonist is a motherless young girl named Amanthis. In the first act, Amanthis is left in the care of a close friend of her father’s when her father has to unexpectedly leave the country, for reasons that are never made clear. Amanthis and her guardian, the Marquis Almanza, live together in the Marquis’ secluded castle and soon it becomes apparent that they have fallen in love with each other. The situation becomes complicated when a dashing but egotistical count arrives at the castle to woo Amanthis. Fortunately, Amanthis’ father suddenly reappears and blesses her union with the Marquis, and the count goes back to the woman to whom he was previously engaged. As the “advertisement” on the front endpaper explains, the first translation that was commissioned was too literal, and “however correct or elegant…precluded all prospect of success.” Elizabeth Inchbald was therefore entrusted with doing a new translation of the play and “with much care and attention, prepared it for the English stage—That care has been amply recompensed by the reception the piece has met, and more especially in those parts of it which she has taken the liberty to add from her own invention.” A production of Inchbald’s translation was performed at the Theater Royal in Covent Garden in 1788. (Quérard III, p. 311 and Beach, French Women Playwrights, p. 28)
Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821) began her career as an actor and made her professional debut on the London stage in 1772. She married another actor, Joseph Inchbald, in 1753 and played opposite him in many of her major roles, including Desdemona in Othello and Cordelia in King Lear. Despite a slight stutter, Inchbald was a respected actress and performed all over Europe, until she retired from acting in 1789 to focus on playwriting. Her first play, A Mogul Tale, was produced in 1784. She went on to write 20 other plays, all comedies and farces, except one tragedy, The French Massacre, which was never produced. Many of Inchbald’s plays are satiric in tone and feature instances of mistaken identity, stock characters, and broad physical comedy. As a critic, she tended to favor moralistic, sentimental plays set in exotic settings, and like many of her contemporaries, she disliked some of Shakespeare’s more ribald works. In her critical writing, she advocated theatre as a tool for moral and spiritual education.
“Elizabeth Inchbald.” International Dictionary of Theatre, Volume 2: Playwrights. St. James Press, 1993. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2007.
(#10052)
Print Inquire