| Zisca the Avenger | |
| Premiere: | 3 November 1851[1] |
| Place: | Royal Victoria Theatre, Sydney, Australia |
| Orig Lang: | English |
| Genre: | verse drama |
Zisca the Avenger, or The Slave's Revenge, is an 1851 Australian play by Francis Belfield. It was a rare Australian play to be staged at the time.[2]
The play was performed in Sydney, Melbourne, Geelong, Hobart and Bathurst.[3] [4]
The People's Advocate, reviewing a copy of the script before production said "plot is excellent... the incidents follow in such rapid succession, that it is impossible for it to flaul upon the stage, it certainly is the most creditable Dramatic production that has yet been written in Australia. We have read two other pieces by this gentleman, but this is so infinitely superior in language, plot and action that we could not have believed it to have been written by the author of Retribution or The Rebel Chief."[5]
Bell's Life said "The versification is correct; generally smooth and pleasing; frequently striking and vigorous. The plot is not the least commendable, being fraught with interest from the rising of the curtain until the denouement; and the skill with which the author has preserved that interest throughout, will in our opinion stamp 'success' upon his labors."[6]
Another review said "The language in many portions of it is highly poetical and betrays an extent of reading and refinement of thought highly creditable to its author."[7]