SCOTT DRAMATISED.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13896, 31 December 1913, Page 6

SCOTT DRAMATISED.

" The prosperity of the minor "theatres in the early nineteenth century was, says George >Paston in the "Fortnightly' Beview," due in great measure to the enormous success achieved by.' feeble adaptations of Scott's novels. "The Heart of Midlothian," adaptod by Dibdin, had enjoyed a long run at the Surrey, and now Watkin Burroughs invited Fitzball to dramatise the newly-, published "Fortunes of Nigel." i

Dibdin could turn a novel into a play in three days, but Fitzball confesses with shame that it took him a week to prepare "The Fortunes of Nigel" for the stage. "Getting up a three-act piece in those days," he remarks, "was a much more important affair than now; or, at least, I thought so. As the vast scenes were pushed into sets, and the different costumes and properties were brought in piece by piece, to bo approved by the manager } I could scarcely believe myself of sufficient importance to; bei the agitator of this mighty commotion.". . Mrs. Glover, whose-daughters, were in -the ease, 'picked nj> a- cricket on the stage at f x eheasai, and prophesied that the play would make a decided hit. When the; ,night ...arrived —it was in June,* 1822—the house was crowded to suffocation, for Scott's works were the rage, not only in their original form but on the boards. . The cricket proved a true prophet. "The Fortune' of Nigel" was received with the greatest enthusiasm, ran for ninety-six nights, and brought a large sum of money to the management. ;

How much the adapter was paid we are not told, but it is certain that the author of the book received not a penny from the profits. Scott's fortunes might have been retrieved twice over if he could have demanded a percentage on the huge sums that were made by managers out of the adaptations from his novels.