Hans die Skipper

Hans die Skipper ("Hans the seaman or sea captain"), can refer to either a play or a film, both based on a renowned Afrikaans novel Hans-die-Skipper (1929) by D.F. Malherbe (1881-1969).

=The original novel=

A romanticised version of life in a small community of fishermen in a coastal Western Cape village, the novel tells of the conflict between the fisherman father Hans and his rebellious son. Written in Afrikaans, it was first published by Nasionale Pers as Hans-die-Skipper in 1929. As one of the first major novels in the new language, it was long considered one of the great Afrikaans novels and used as a prescribed work at school for many years.

Performance history in South Africa
1934/5? Produced by Hendrik Hanekom and his Toneelskool in Bloemfontein in 1934/5*? as Hans die Skipper.

1934: Produced by KAT under the title Die Seeman ("The Seaman") in November 1934, directed by P. Tack with Herman Steytler in the lead.

1935 to 1936(?): The Hanekom theatre school's production of Hans die Skipper was taken on a national tour under the auspices of the Reddingsdaadbond by a company now referred to as Die Hanekoms en Geselskap. The touring cast included Mathilde Hanekom, Antonius Ferreira, Hugo Sturm, Irma du Plessis and Jacques Lochner, besides Hendrik Hanekom himself as "Hans". In the publicity material for their tour of the coastal regions of the Cape in 1936, the audiences were invited to "Listen to and Hear the Sea! Lightning. Thunder. A Foaming Sea and Howling Wind" ("Aanskou en Luister na die Storm op die See! Bliksemstrale. Donderslae. 'n Bruisende See en Huilende Wind!").