Review of first night in Melbourne

Review of first night in Melbourne

The Melbourne Argus reviewed the opening night of The Octoroon in Australia, featuring Madame Marie Duret, with a brief retelling of the plot and a critical commentary on Boucicault’s “stagey” and “claptrap” writing which it described, pejoratively as “seeking after effects.” Praise was bestowed on the cast, however, and a long run predicted. But the review did not express dismay at the death of the heroine. In Australia, where the lives and humanity of indigenous women were constantly threatened, like those of enslaved women in America, the heroine's suicide largely was accepted and applauded as an appropriate, if necessary, conclusion to the melodrama.