This review has reprinted what it described as the “sensation scene” of the drama but also noted the “reluctance” felt by the audience at witnessing the graphic death on the heroine in the play’s finale.
This "Argus" article reviews Madame Marie Duret, taking the role of Zoe Peyton for the opening night of "The Octoroon," in Melbourne, Australia. Thus, "The Octoroon" was performed on the colonial stages of Australia a full ten months before it was staged in London.
This review provided a detailed description of the plot, and noted the play culminated in the death of Zoe, as it had in the original American version. In America, racist beliefs led to hundreds of years of enslavement of African captives and their descendants; in Australia, such attitudes resulted more specifically in systematic genocide of the native population--though certainly forms of slavery existed.
