1 ESAT: The Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance
- 1.1 The Editorial Board
- 1.2 Technical support
2 Introduction
3 Aims of ESAT
4 About ESAT
5 Background, origins and history
6 Basic principles in editing and using ESAT
7 Guide to using ESAT
- 7.1 Navigating The ESAT Entries
- 7.2 Two important notes for all readers
  - 7.2.1 1 Time-frame and focus on pre-21st century people and events
  - 7.2.2 2 It is work in progress
8 Updating ESAT
9 The ESAT Entries

ESAT: The Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance

Originally conceived and founded by Temple Hauptfleisch, ESAT is a national research programme, involving a large number of voluntary writers, researcher, editors and technical supporters.

The Editorial Board

Founder and project director: Temple Hauptfleisch

Editor - South African Theatre and Performance: Temple Hauptfleisch

Editor - South African Film: Freddy Ogterop

Editor - South African Radio:

Editor - South African Television:

Editorial assistant and researcher: Miriam Terblanche

Technical support

Web publisher: University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and the Libopedia project of the University of Stellenbosch Library Services[1]

Editorial offices: University of Stellenbosch, Department of Drama

Introduction

ESAT: The Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance is an open access, internet based interactive resource for researchers interested in the evolution, history and forms of performance and media in South Africa. Deriving from the University of Stellenbosch's Libopedia [2] project, it uses the Wiki format and programmes and is published on the web with the assistance of the Drama Department (http://www.sun.ac.za/drama) and its former Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies, the J.S. Gericke Library and the division for Information Technology at the University of Stellenbosch (http://www.sun.ac.za/index.asp)

This work is based on research supported by the National Research Foundation. However, any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the authors and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard.

Aims of ESAT

The key aim of the ESAT encyclopaedia[3] is to create a comprehensive database on the history and nature of South African performance, including theatre, drama, radio drama and TV drama, film, dance, puppetry, circus, oral performance and similar forms, and to make it available as a general reference work and resource for the use of researchers, students, artists, journalist and all other interested parties.

About ESAT

What is ESAT?

The Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance (ESAT) is an open access, internet based interactive resource for theatre, media and performance researchers interested in the evolution and history of theatre and performance in South Africa. Created in conjunction with the University of Stellenbosch's Libopedia, it uses the Wiki format and programmes.

The aims of the ESAT encyclopaedia are to create a comprehensive database on the history and nature of these art forms in South Africa and make it available as a general reference work and resource for the use of researchers, students, artists, journalist and all other interested parties. This first version of the encyclopaedia was originally intended to be a published mini-encyclopaedia and reference work called A Companion to South African Theatre and Performance (COMSAT) and is derived from a database collated by Temple Hauptfleisch and the Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies (CENTAPS)at Stellenbosch (with the help of a large number of associates and assistants) over the course of twenty years (1990-2010) (For more on this see Background, origins and history, Contributors and Acknowledgements).

The encylopaedia's editors invite the academic and artistic community to help in expanding and improving on this material in order to make which would make the results of academic and other research more readily accessible to the general reader and the theatre enthusiast. (For more on this see Updating ESAT.) In this sense the basic aim is rather to condense and collate available information on all South African theatre and performance forms (as far as they have been documented) in one place and in a handy and accessible digital format, rather than to undertake any comprehensive new research. Happily a great deal of little known and/or forgotten information has in fact come to the fore during the course of this project, and can be made available, though that was not the fundamental aim of this first version of ESAT.

The Research Team and Contributors

Founder and Project Leader

Temple Hauptfleisch

Editors

Drama, Theatre and Performance: Temple Hauptfleisch

Film: Freddy Ogterop

Media: (Yet to be appointed)

The Cumulative Bibliography: Miriam Terblanche

Planning Committees and Research Support

Original Project Planning Committee (1990-1994)

Temple Hauptfleisch, Yvette Hutchison, Edwin Hees, Arnold Blumer.

Digital Planning Committee (2010-2013)

Temple Hauptfleisch, Ina Smith, Hilton Gibson, Miriam Terblanche.

Technical advisors to the project

On the Access-programme originally used: Petra Malherbe & Information Technology, University of Stellenbosch

Technical advisors on the Wiki-programme: Hilton Gibson and Tammy Bekker

Research Assistants to the Project Leader (1990-2013)

Felicity Grové, Abduragman Adams, J-P de Rosnay, Gaerin Hauptfleisch, Karina Hauptfleisch, Yvette Hutchison, Anja Huismans, Miemie Neethling, Petrus du Preez, Rebecca Smart, Miriam Terblanche and Hannah Borthwick.

Contributing Authors

(Their affiliation at the time of writing) and [abbreviations used in text] Arnold Blumer (University of Stellenbosch) [AB] Hannah Borthwick (University of Stellenbosch) [HB] P.J. Conradie (University of Stellenbosch) [PC] Eben Cruywagen (SABC) [EC] J-P de Rosnay (University of Stellenbosch) [J-P] Floyed de Vaal (University of Stellenbosch) [FdV] Petrus du Preez (University of Stellenbosch) [PDP] Julius Eichbaum (Scenario Magazine) [JE] Ian Ferguson (University of South Africa) [IF] Jill Fletcher (Cape Town) [JF] Gaerin Hauptfleisch (University of Stellenbosch) [GH] Temple Hauptfleisch (University of Stellenbosch) [TH] Edwin Hees (University of Stellenbosch) [EH] Stephanie Hough (Stellenbosch) [SH] Johan Hugo (University of Stellenbosch) [JH] Yvette Hutchison (Universities of Warwick UK and Stellenbosch) [YH] Enock James (University of Stellenbosch) [EJ] Marie Kruger (University of Stellenbosch) [MK] Mervyn McMurtry (University of Natal, Durban) [McM] Miemie Neethling (University of Stellenbosch) [MN] Miriam Terblanche (University of Stellenbosch) [MT] NELM, Grahamstown [NELM] Steve Ntsane (University of Stellenbosch) [SN] Louw Odendaal (University of Pretoria) [LO] Freddy Ogterop (Independent researcher)[FO] Dennis Schauffer (University of Durban-Westville) [DS] Rebecca Smart (University of Stellenbosch) [RS] Elma Young (Pretoria) [EY] Johann van Heerden [JvH] Hilda van Lill (University of Stellenbosch [HvL] Nthombifuthi Vezi (University of Zululand) [NV] Anton Welman (University of the Free State) [AW]

Acknowledgements

Background, origins and history

1979-1989: Background and origins

1990-2010: COMSAT

The project proper began as a research and documentation project, A Companion to South African Theatre and Performance (COMSAT) which was originally conceived and initiated by Temple Hauptfleisch in 1994, when he founded the Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Stellenbosch. The aim was to involve a range of researchers and students to compile a general reference work on South African theatre and performance which would make the results of academic and other research more readily accessible to the general reader and the theatre enthusiast. In this sense the basic aim was rather to condense and collate available information on all South African theatre and performance forms (as far as they have been documented) in a single volume and in a handy format, rather than undertake any comprehensive new research. A key model for this project was Phyllis Hartnoll’s famous Oxford Companion to the Theatre.

The working procedures for the original COMSAT project were relatively simple. The basic framework of the project was conceived by Temple Hauptfleisch, while the detail principles for the publication – and especially the the format for the entries (see below) – were devised by the Project Committee in consultation with the Advisors. With these in hand the members of the Project Committee thereupon did a basic search of the most prominent books and articles on South African theatre and performance, in order to compile a gross list of possible entries for the Companion. The gross list was then honed down to a basic shortlist of about 2000 entries, which were apportioned out to possible authors.

This first version of the encyclopaedia focussed only on live stage performance and was originally intended to be a formally published mini-encyclopaedia and reference work called A Companion to South African Theatre and Performance (COMSAT) and was derived from a database collated by Temple Hauptfleisch and the Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies (CENTAPS) at Stellenbosch (with the help of a large number of associates and assistants) over the course of twenty years (1990-2010)

While the authors were working on the entries, the project’s co-ordinator Yvette Hutchison – with the help of Petra Malherbe of the University of Stellenbosch’s Data-centre, set about devising a computerized format for the various kinds of entries, utilizing the Microsoft’s Access programme. This would allow the team to continually update the basic information, and possibly publish revised versions of the book or go on to an online facility or a CD-rom based product.

When the original deadline for entries had come and gone in 1996, only 21 of the 80 people approached had accepted the contracts, 12 had submitted material, of which only 9 had had fulfilled their contracts completely and properly. (A few more submitted entries during 1997-8, bringing us to 11 contributors by 1999.) It became clear that the project was very close to getting bogged down. At a subsequent meeting, the Committee decided that the rest of the book would be written by Temple Hauptfleisch, assisted by Yvette Hutchison and some of the post-graduate students in the Department of Drama , while the two sub-editors – Edwin Hees and Arnold Blumer – would help with the final editing process.

As a result of all the aforementioned processes, the project expanded almost exponentially between 1994 and 2010, generating over 10 000 new individual entries and a number of sub-sections, including an overview of theatre and performance in the country, a chronology of theatre events (in the context of social, cultuiral and political events), a comprehensive bibliography and annotated lists of plays and performances.

This database of more than 2000 pages soon became a core resource for the research undertaken by the staff of the Centre for Theatre and Performance studies as well as the staff and students of the Drama Department. Gradually international enquiries also begtan to come in to the Centre.

In view of this interest the pressure to publish the material in some form began to grow. However, it slowly became clear that that (a) few publishers were really interested in a publication of this enormous size and (b) as the material still kept on increasing , much editing still needed to be done, and there was an enormous amount of information still lacking. Thus the research team began to explore other possibilities. The most promising seemed to be an online version of the database, done in consultation with the Stellenbosch University's IT section and the J.S. Gericke Library.

2010-2011: The birth of ESAT

In May 2010 a meeting was held with Ms Ina Smith head of SUNScholar and Mr Hilton Gibson IT specialist for the J.S. Gericke Library, to create a website for The Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre and Performance (ESAT). This would form part of the University of Stellenbosch's Libopedia programme. The various templates were now developed, the staff were trained and transferal of the data to the ESAT file began in July 2010.

The new online version of COMSAT, now called ESAT, was conceived as a means of "publishing" all that material online, and thus making the results of all existing and emerging academic and other research more readily accessible to the general reader and the theatre enthusiast nationally and internationally. In this sense the basic aim is rather to condense and collate available information on all South African theatre and performance forms (as far as they have been documented) in one place and in a handy and accessible digital format, rather than to undertake any comprehensive new research. Happily a great deal of little known and/or forgotten information has in fact come to the fore in the process, and much is still being discovered as the project grows. However, that was never - nor is it - the fundamental aim of this first version of ESAT.

In this period the bulk of the original material was transferred to the new ESAT website by a number of student-assistants and Ms Miriam Terblanche, the project's research assistant and administrator. The entries were uploaded as they were, unedited as yet. The website was initially kept closed to outsiders, in order to facilitate the process of uploading material. However, at the end of 2011, the University opened up the website to readers and internet users, and a circular was sent out to alert potential users of its existence and inviting their help in expanding, correcting and improving the resource.

2012-2013: The expansion of ESAT

In 2012-2013, besides the continued uploading of new material and editing of the existing material, the scope of the ESAT Project was considerably enlarged by two crucial meetings:

In 2012 a meeting was held with Marisa Keuris and members of her archival project called SA Drama- en teaterbewaring ("SA Drama and Theatre Conservation"), which aims at creating a digital archive of materials on South African theatre, in association with similar international archives, such as . This association means that the ESAT project and the SADET project become partners, sharing information and each supporting and supplementing the other. Discussions on this matters continued into 2013.

In 2013 film specialist Freddy Ogterop approached the project team to suggest that we expand the scope of ESAT to include South African Film. This discussion led to the idea that perhaps Radio Drama and TV Drama may also be added to the scope of ESAT. Ogterop declared himself willing to join the research team and be the editor for the film section. This was immediately implemented, and the title of the project provisionally changed, even though the implications of these ideas are still being investigated.

Thus, the period of discussed here is characterized by three major initiatives:

(1) The scope of the Encyclopaedia expanded radically to include film, media and performance, and led to a restructuring of virtually the entire online publication. The editorial board finally decided to rename the project the Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance (but retaining ESAT as the acronym). In addition, provision was now made for three sub-editors, one each for Theatre and Performance; Film; and Media.

(2) A number of templates were developed tested and finalised for writing entries for the various sections of the encylopaedia (see ESAT Templates), not only to facilitate writing, uploading and editing of entries, but also for use in training new research associates, and to serve as guidelines for the growing number of contributors submitting material to the encyclopaedia.

(3) The ESAT project began to collaborate formally with the "SA Drama and Theatre Heritage" project at UNISA), as part of a national initiative to devise a strategy for the long-term preservation of theatre materials in South Africa.

Basic principles in editing and using ESAT

Guide to using ESAT

Navigating The ESAT Entries

The entries for ESAT have been grouped in fifteen categories, managed and edited by one of the research editors. To access database material on the relevant category, click on the appropriate link below, then follow instructions on the landing page.

Two important notes for all readers

1 Time-frame and focus on pre-21st century people and events

Because so much information about contemporary arts is already available on the Internet, the aim of this first phase of the project is primarily to provide information about the earlier periods in our history, or what one might think of as pre-21st century theatre, film, media and performance; that is: material from older print publications and manuscripts, not always readily to be found on the Internet yet. For information on more recent, post-2000 events, readers are therefore urged to use the various search engines available, and consult the many South African and international Internet resources, such as LitNet [4], Artslink [5], ESAACH [6] and Wikipedia [7], as well as ESAT itself.

2 It is work in progress

In addition to the time-frame, this initial, experimental, stage of the project (2011-2014) is very much work in progress, a phase in which all the raw material in the database is simply being put onto the web; largely unedited. The main idea has been to make this information available to all users as soon as possible, therefore the material has been used much as it was received - incomplete as it may be at this stage - and therefore it may contain quite a bit of duplication of information, many lacunae, some uncertainties and even possible errors. (In many cases asterisks [*] are used in the text to signal our own awareness of gaps or possible errors .) There will definitely be numerous issues, people and institutions that our readers may know about, but we have not got to yet or are unaware of, and therefore have no entries as yet. Many entries are currently still only mere (unsorted) collations of information, and still require close editing. (The phrase "TO BE EDITED" is at times put in at the head of the entry, to indicate such cases.)

We would therefore like to invite all readers to help us in improving, editing and expanding this material. Should you wish to comment, alter or add to a particular entry, or to the encyclopaedia as a whole, please go to the next section Updating ESAT and let us have your input.

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 to ESAT

All researchers, artists and other interested parties are invited to help us expand, improve, update and correct 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.

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:

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.

The ESAT Entries

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

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