The Sea of Ice (play)

The Sea of Ice is a 19th century melodrama play in English adapted from the 1853 French play La Priére des Naufragés (Prayer of the Wrecked) by Adolphe d'Ennery and Ferdinand Dugué.[1]

French debut

The French play under the title La Priére des Naufragés was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique and debuted on October 20, 1853.

Original Paris cast
  • Carlss by Charles de Chilly
  • Barabas by Laurent
  • Raoul de Lascours by Delafosse
  • Georges De Laval by M. Coste
  • Horace de Brionne by C. Lemaitre
  • Medoc by Machanette
  • Un Secretaire d'Ambassade by Depresle
  • Un Intendant by Martin
  • Premier Matelot by Richer
  • Deuxieme Metelot by Lavergne
  • Louise de Descours by Marie Laurent
  • Ogarita by Idem
  • La Comtesse de Theringe by Mesanges
  • Diane by Snadre
  • Marthe, age 6 by De Brueil

English adaptations

In London, it debuted at the Adelphi Theatre under the title The Thirst for Gold, or the Lost Ship and the Wild Flower of Mexico on December 4, 1853, with Benjamin Nottingham Webster as Carlos. It ran to great success until June 1854, and had a running length of three and a half hours. The big draw was a scene where the mutineers of a ship strand the captain and his family on a sea of ice which then breaks up.[2][3] However, because Webster had simply pirated the play from the French version, once this was exposed a number of copycat translations popped up.[2] One adaptation appeared at the Marylebone Theatre in London in 1854 under the title The Struggle for Gold and the Orphan of the Frozen Sea, which added a Danish vessel breaking up the sea ice to serve as a rescue ship.[4] Webster revived the play in 1874 under the title Prayer in the Storm where it ran for 143 performances (March 28-September 11, 1874), and featured Geneviève Ward.[5][6]

Original Adelphi cast
  • Captain De Lascours - Charles Selby
  • Carlos - Benjamin Nottingham Webster
  • Jean Medoc - Paul Bedford
  • Pieree Pacome - R. Romer
  • First Sailor - C.J. Smith
  • Second Sailor - Mrs. Anders
  • Barabas - Robert Keeley
  • Louise de Lascours - Madame Céleste
  • Marie, child - Miss Stroker
  • Marquis del Monte - Benjamin Nottingham Webster
  • Horace de Brionne - Mr. Garden
  • Georges De Laval - Mr. Parselle
  • Secretary to the Spanish Embassy - Mr. Hastings
  • The Countess Theringe - Mrs. L. Murray
  • Mdlle. Diana De Lascours - Miss F. Maskell

American adaptation

Laura Keene produced the play in America to success as The Sea of Ice. She brought on the play at her New York theatre on November 5, 1857, where it ran through December 21, and it saved her company financially.[4][7] President Abraham Lincoln and his wife attended a Keene performance of the play in Washington, D.C., on February 8, 1864.[8][9]

Original Keene New York cast (November 5, 1857)
  • Henri De Lascours - Charles Wheatleigh
  • Louise De Lascours - Laura Keene
  • Carlos - George Jordan
  • Medoc - C. Peters
  • Pasquin - Burke
  • Marie - Mary Bullock
  • Horace - G. W. Stoddart
  • Don Jose - Carlton Howard
  • Mlle. Diane De Theringe - Charlotte Thompson
  • Barbaras - Joseph Jefferson
  • Jano - F. Evans
  • Georges - T. Duncan
  • Countess - Mary Wells

References
  1. Holman, Andrew & Robert K. Kristofferson, eds. More of a Man: Diaries of a Scottish Craftsman in Mid-Nineteenth-Century , p. 672 n. 70 (2013)
  2. Mattacks, Ken. Acts of Piracy: Black Ey'd Susan, Theatrical Publishing and the Victorian Stage, in Moore, Grace, ed., Pirates and Mutineers of the Nineteenth Century: Swashbucklers and Swindlers, pp. 133-34 (2011)
  3. (10 December 1853). The Theatrical Examiner, The Examiner, p. 789
  4. Brown, T. Allston. A History of the New York Stage from the First Performance in 1732 ..., Volume 2, pp. 128-29 (1902)
  5. [http://textarchive.ru/c-2986957-pall.html Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest for 1873-1874, Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
  6. (4 April 1874). Adelph Theatre, The Athenaeum
  7. Fisher, James. Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings, p. xxxv (2015)
  8. Epstein, Daniel Mark. The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage, pp. 419-20 (2008)
  9. Keene entry at The Vault at Pfaffs (Lehigh University), Retrieved 15 December 2017 ("Her production of The Sea of Ice is thought to be the turning point in her fortune.")
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