Play script, including biographical notes, textual details and information about the staging of the play.

Dion Boucicault, the most popular dramatist of the second half of the nineteenth century, was also one of the most prolific and representative.

Pete. Guess they nebber was born-dem tings what, dem?-get away Born here-dem darkies? What, on Terrebonne Don't b'lieve it, Mas'r George; dem black tings never was born at all; dey swarmed one mornin' on a sassafras tree in the swamp: I cotched 'em; dey ain't no 'count. Don't b'lieve dey'll turn out niggers when dey're growed; dey'll come out sunthin else. Grace. Yes, Mas'r George, dey was born here; and old Pete is fonder on 'em dan he is of his fiddle on a Sunday. Pete. What? dem tings-dem?-getaway makes blow at the CHILDREN.] Born here dem darkies What, on Terrebonne? Don't b'lieve...

The selection of Boucicault's work in this volume stresses his consummate craft as a writer for the theatre in the age of actor-managers and melodrama. It also reminds us of that Irish verve, charm and adroitness which made him the best playwright of his generation in England and America as well as Ireland. Arguably the father of both the Irish and American drama, his characteristic plotting and taste for sensation suggest that another of his heirs was the early movie industry.

Dion Boucicault's play adaptation of Charles Dickens Christmas novella The Cricket on the Hearth.

"The Octoroon" from Dion Boucicault. Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas (1820-1890).