What do you think?
Rate this book
The Black Cat: A Play In Three Acts
The Black Cat: A Play In Three Acts This book is a result of an effort made by us towards making a contribution to the preservation and repair of original classic literature. In an attempt to preserve, improve and recreate the original content, we have worked towards: 1. Type-setting & Reformatting: The complete work has been re-designed via professional layout, formatting and type-setting tools to re-create the same edition with rich typography, graphics, high quality images, and table elements, giving our readers the feel of holding a 'fresh and newly' reprinted and/or revised edition, as opposed to other scanned & printed (Optical Character Recognition - OCR) reproductions. 2. Correction of imperfections: As the work was re-created from the scratch, therefore, it was vetted to rectify certain conventional norms with regard to typographical mistakes, hyphenations, punctuations, blurred images, missing content/pages, and/or other related subject matters, upon our consideration. Every attempt was made to rectify the imperfections related to omitted constructs in the original edition via other references. However, a few of such imperfections which could not be rectified due to intentional\unintentional omission of content in the original edition, were inherited and preserved from the original work to maintain the authenticity and construct, relevant to the work. We believe that this work holds historical, cultural and/or intellectual importance in the literary works community, therefore despite the oddities, we accounted the work for print as a part of our continuing effort towards preservation of literary work and our contribution towards the development of the society as a whole, driven by our beliefs. We are grateful to our readers for putting their faith in us and accepting our imperfections with regard to preservation of the historical content. HAPPY READING!
86 pages, Paperback
First published December 4, 2005
About the author
John Todhunter
81 booksJohn Todhunter (December 30, 1839 – October 25, 1916) was an Irish poet and playwright who wrote seven volumes of poetry, and several plays.
Todhunter was born in Dublin, the eldest son of Thomas Harvey Todhunter, a Quaker merchant of English origin. He and was educated at Quaker schools, including Bootham School, York and Mountmellick in Ireland. He attended Trinity College Medical School, where he studied medicine. While at Trinity, Todhunter won the Vice-Chancellor's prize for English Verse 1864, 1865 and 1866, and the Gold Medal of the Philosophical Society 1866 for an essay. He also clerked for William Stokes while studying. Todhunter received his Bachelor of Medicine in 1867, and his Doctorate of Medicine degree in 1871.
In 1870 (one year prior to his DM) he became a Professor of English Literature at Alexandra College, Dublin. Four years later, Todhunter resigned from that position, and travelled to several places in Europe, including Egypt. He married Dora L. Digby in 1879. In 1881, he finally settled in London, where his home in Bedford Park, Chiswick was located in a small community of writers and artists, who included W.B. Yeats. He was involved in the founding of the Irish Literary Society there.
His tragedy, The Black Cat only received one performance, on 8 December 1893 at the Opera Comique, by the Independent Theatre Society—a private club formed to forestall censorship by the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
Todhunter was born in Dublin, the eldest son of Thomas Harvey Todhunter, a Quaker merchant of English origin. He and was educated at Quaker schools, including Bootham School, York and Mountmellick in Ireland. He attended Trinity College Medical School, where he studied medicine. While at Trinity, Todhunter won the Vice-Chancellor's prize for English Verse 1864, 1865 and 1866, and the Gold Medal of the Philosophical Society 1866 for an essay. He also clerked for William Stokes while studying. Todhunter received his Bachelor of Medicine in 1867, and his Doctorate of Medicine degree in 1871.
In 1870 (one year prior to his DM) he became a Professor of English Literature at Alexandra College, Dublin. Four years later, Todhunter resigned from that position, and travelled to several places in Europe, including Egypt. He married Dora L. Digby in 1879. In 1881, he finally settled in London, where his home in Bedford Park, Chiswick was located in a small community of writers and artists, who included W.B. Yeats. He was involved in the founding of the Irish Literary Society there.
His tragedy, The Black Cat only received one performance, on 8 December 1893 at the Opera Comique, by the Independent Theatre Society—a private club formed to forestall censorship by the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 14, 2022
🔻 Genre: Dramatic play.
✔️Published in 1895. FIRST ACTED AT THE INDEPENDENT THEATRE IN LONDON. LONDON: HENRY AND CO. 93, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C. 1895.
👁 Point of view: A play in three acts.
🖊 My review: At first, I did not understand what was going on here, but a couple pages into the play, it all made complete sense. The Denhams have a bit of a marital problem, a Mrs. Blanche Tremaine seems to be the love interest of Mr. Denham’s wandering eye, and poor little Undine, the Denhams daughter – so put upon because she has to do her “figures” (arithmetic).
🔥 Dénouement: Dramatic, yet so apropos for the late nineteenth century era.
🔲 Excerpts :
A bit of dramatic license here with Mrs. Denham:
🖋 The writing style: Straightforward, well-organized.
🗝 What I learned: I read the biography of Dr. John Todhunter, the author of this play. His was an interesting life.
💫 What I like best: That I found out who “The Black Cat” is in this play.
📌 Would I read this again? Yes.
🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
◼️ Fun fact: The Black Cat only received one performance, on December 8, 1893, at the Opera Comique, by the Independent Theatre Society—a private club formed to forestall censorship by the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
🟣 Media form: Kindle version.
✔️Published in 1895. FIRST ACTED AT THE INDEPENDENT THEATRE IN LONDON. LONDON: HENRY AND CO. 93, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C. 1895.
👁 Point of view: A play in three acts.
🖊 My review: At first, I did not understand what was going on here, but a couple pages into the play, it all made complete sense. The Denhams have a bit of a marital problem, a Mrs. Blanche Tremaine seems to be the love interest of Mr. Denham’s wandering eye, and poor little Undine, the Denhams daughter – so put upon because she has to do her “figures” (arithmetic).
🔥 Dénouement: Dramatic, yet so apropos for the late nineteenth century era.
🔲 Excerpts :
🔸 Denham. (with a reckless bitterness) Yes, that's the devil of it. You have put me out of conceit with love. Your chamber of horrors haunts my imagination. If a woman could give us all she promises, we should be like gods. But she can't. Why should we worry about it? Why ask for cakes and ale, when sermons and soda-water are so much better for us?
A bit of dramatic license here with Mrs. Denham:
🔸Mrs. Denham. (She pours the contents of the bottle into the cup.) The Black Cat had a friend; I am not so fortunate. It is a survival of the fittest, I suppose. The world was made for the sleek and treacherous. (She replaces the bottle in the cupboard, then returns, and lays the keys on the table.) Yes, my little Undine, mother is tired too—so tired! Oh, sleep, sleep! If it were but eternal sleep—if I could be sure I should never wake again! No more life. And yet I want to live. Oh, my God, I want to live!
🖋 The writing style: Straightforward, well-organized.
🗝 What I learned: I read the biography of Dr. John Todhunter, the author of this play. His was an interesting life.
💫 What I like best: That I found out who “The Black Cat” is in this play.
📌 Would I read this again? Yes.
🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
◼️ Fun fact: The Black Cat only received one performance, on December 8, 1893, at the Opera Comique, by the Independent Theatre Society—a private club formed to forestall censorship by the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
🟣 Media form: Kindle version.
March 4, 2024
This book holds a story with a theme that true love holds possessiveness.
The story brings out the theme that if you are not happily married, it affects every member in the family and mostly when it is always said out!
The story ends with a sad ending.
This play is of 3 acts.
A nice book to read!
The story brings out the theme that if you are not happily married, it affects every member in the family and mostly when it is always said out!
The story ends with a sad ending.
This play is of 3 acts.
A nice book to read!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews