Ghosts

Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen. A controversial play about heredity and sexually transmitted illnesses. First produced in South Africa as Spoken in Dutch and performed by Mignon Sorel and Louis de Vriendt, who toured the country in 1927.

The play was produced in English by the Cape Town Repertory Theatre Society in 1928, starring Cecile de Banke as Mrs Alving, W. Arthur Sewell as Oswald Alving.

Produced by Joyce Burch for the Friends of Eoan, Little Theatre, Cape Town, 1945, with Helen Southern-Holt, Charles Johnman, Walter Patterson, Jacomina de Bruyn.

Translated into Afrikaans as Spoke by M.P.O. Burgers and first produced in 1947 in the His Majesty's Theatre, Johannesburg, with André Huguenet , Anna Neethling-Pohl, Hendrik Hanekom, James Norval and Anna Cloete. *Like the 1947 Afrikaans Hamlet, this production played a significant role in persuading the government to support a national theatre. In 197*/8* perfomed by PACT.**Performed in English as

Directed by Frank Shelley for NAPAC, the play opened in St John's Theatre on 24 October 1968. The role of Mrs Alving was played by Valerie Miller. Others in the cast were: David Horner, Reinet Maasdorp, Reg Richards. Set design: Bill Smuts; costumes: Lucille Cross.

Sources

The Mime, 1(3), 1928.

South African Opinion, 2(6):18-19, 1945.

Teater SA, 1(1) and (2), 1968.

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