Beni Yang Yang

Overview

An Arab troupe of acrobats that played at the theatre of Nice in October 1874. Marie writes «les Beni Yang-Yang, troupe arabe» (024.0358). The name is probably her form of the Beni-Zoug-Zoug, the Kabyle acrobatic company that toured Europe and America from the early 1860s (playbills of Leipzig 1863, New York 1867, Brighton 1868, found by web search; the V&A holds the Brighton bill, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1241440), but no source places a troupe of that name in Nice in 1874.

Relevance to Marie

On Sunday 18 October 1874 Marie and her mother go in the evening to the theatre «voir les Beni Yang-Yang, troupe arabe», in the first box on the first tier lent by Lewin; the audience is «un public de dimanche» (024.0358). «Les Yang-Yang sont assez amusants et font des choses fort extraordinaires. Fortuné est au théâtre, maman a voulu lui faire voir ses ressemblants» (024.0359): Maman had taken the young Black servant Fortuné (called Chocolat) to see people she thought resembled him, a remark that is prejudiced by the standards of today.

Identity uncertain

We are not sure which troupe this was. The Beni-Zoug-Zoug identification is the editors' guess from the name; troupes of «Arabes» with similar names toured for decades. If you can identify this troupe, we would be glad to hear from you.

References in Diary

• 1874-10-18 (024.0358, 024.0359).