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 20 October 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 4 December 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: or, 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 (28 March - 11 September 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 5 November 1857, where it ran until 21 December, 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 8 February 1864.[8][9]

Original Keene New York cast (5 November 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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