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Welcome to The Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance (ESAT)

About ESAT

ESAT is an online, open access, digital reference work, edited by Temple Hauptfleisch (founder and project director), Freddy Ogterop and Miriam Terblanche.

Originally conceived and founded in 1994, it was opened for public access and use in late 2011 and is the result of a national research programme, involving a large number of voluntary writers, researcher, editors and technical supporters over more than 15 years.

For more information about specific aspects of ESAT, click on the appropriate link below:

1. Aims, organizational structure

1. Background, origins and history of ESAT

1. Basic principles in editing and using ESAT

How to use ESAT

While ESAT uses the Wiki programme, which makes provision for a very useful search function, the database has avoided contemporary multi-screen web-design, and has been constructed rather more traditionally, like a printed encyclopaedia, with an index to the various entries (called The ESAT Entries). The entries in the index have been grouped in fifteen distinct categories, each one managed and edited by one of the research editors.

Important notes for everyone using ESAT

1. The focus is on pre-21st century theatre, film, media and performance
2. It is work in progress

Accessing the database of entries

To access database material on the relevant category, the reader has two options:

Using the Search function

Go to the Search block at the top right of this page (or type: Alt+F) and type in the search word/phrase.

Using the Index

Go to the Index (below) and click on the appropriate link in the list of 15 categories of entries, then follow instructions on the landing page.

For more detailed information on using the website, go to Guide to using ESAT (by clicking on the phrase).

If you want to know more about the project before using the website, read the section entitled About ESAT (click on the link) and/or go to the entry on the Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance.

Index to ESAT entries

The ESAT entries have been grouped in fifteen categories in this index, each category managed and edited by one of the research editors. To access database material on the relevant category, click on the appropriate link below.

1. South African Theatre and Performance/Overview
2. South African Film/Overview
3. South African Media/Overview
4. The South African Context/General Terminology and Thematic Entries
5. South African Theatre/Terminology and Thematic Entries
6. South African Film /Terminology and Thematic Entries
7. South African Media/Terminology and Thematic Entries
8. South African Personalities
9. South African Venues, Companies, Societies, etc
10. South_African_Films
11. South African Stage Plays
12. South African Radio Plays and Serials
13. South African Television Plays and Series
14. A Chronology of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance
15. A Bibliography of South African South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance

Updating ESAT

The ESAT database – and indeed the project as a whole - is intended to be, above anything else, a resource for the theatre scholar, researcher, practitioner, critic and/or theatre lover. Something to be dipped into and used as the need arises. We trust that in its present Wiki-based format it serves that purpose.

However, as any reader will no doubt quickly realize, a project such as this can hardly be complete or even fully correct, in all the details about the thousands of performances, people, organizations and places involved in South African theatre and performance over the course of the ages. Besides the sheer bulk of potential material to be fitted into our database , there are also problems with the availability and reliability of our sources and our information. To add to the confusion we have found that authors often contradict themselves and each other, at times taking speculation as fact, or turning to speculation themselves to fill in gaps. We have sought to indicate where such disparities or doubts occur. (See A Warning to Readers of ESAT)

Thus the ESAT database can only really provide a sample of the more prominent information available at a given time, nor can it ever really be completed as a project. There are no doubt many gaps and inaccuracies of our own in this first version of ESAT and for this reason we would like to stress that it is a first version, one to be updated and corrected on an ongoing basis. To help us in this process, we would like to invite readers to supply us with any information we might require to improve the Companion for later editions.

Submitting contributions, suggestions and corrections to ESAT

All researchers, artists and other interested parties are invited to help us to expand, improve, update and correct ESAT, since by its very nature, the database will always be incomplete and prone to error on occasion. (See further discussion of this point in Updating ESAT.) Any information, contributions, relevant comments, material or information can be sent to the following address.

If you wish to send whole entries, you may wish to do so using the ESAT Templates explained below as a guideline.

The ESAT address

The Editor: ESAT, Department of Drama, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, MATIELAND 7602, South Africa.

E-mail address: satj@sun.ac.za

Fax number: (+ 27) 21 882 9141

The ESAT Templates

We have devised the following templates for the varous categories in the encylopaedia (see next section), and we invite you to use them when preparing material to submit to us. To find the appropriate ESAT Template for your purposes, click on the category below:

1. Film ESAT Template
2. Personalities ESAT Template
3. Radio Plays & series ESAT Template
4. Stage Plays ESAT Template
5. Themes and definitions ESAT Template
6. TV Drama & series ESAT Template
7. Venues, Companies, Institutions etc ESAT Template

Please use the headings outlined in the appropriate category to write up your entry/entries for inclusion in ESAT. Do so in a Word document, and then mail it back to us as an e-mail attachment satj@sun.ac.za, or in a letter to the address given above, and we will upload it onto the website.