Di Bedriegers

Di Bedriegers ("The deceivers") is an Afrikaans farce by D.P. du Toit (1870-1936).

Also found as Die Bedriegers and Die Bedrieërs in later versions.

The original text

Originally written in Cape Dutch sometime between August 1892 and May 1893, and titled Di Bedriegers, it is considered to be the first fully Afrikaans play.

It is a farce that tells of the deceit of five burghers who boast about their bravery, but when another border war breaks out against the Xhosa at Cradock in 1850, they develop all sorts of ailments and experience insurmountable problems that supposedly prevent them from taking part in the war.

Rewritten the same year (to make provision for two women characters and allow women to perform), it was thereafter performed in various centres across the country. The title was later also adapted to more modern Afrikaans idiom as Die Bedriegers.

The text was first performed in the Somerset East Town Hall between August 1892 and May 1893, after which it was published in De Goede Hoop from June to July 1905 and in De Gezellige in November 1905. It was published separately in 1915 and has seen many reprints. Included in a seminal compendium called Di bedriegers, Magrita Prinslo, en ander Afrikaanse dramas en samesprake tot 1900 by F.C.L. Bosman (Voortrekkerpers, 1942, reprinted by Human & Rousseau, 1975). Also published in Die Storm en Ander Eenbedrywe, compiled by P.G. Nel, Perskor in 1972.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1882/3: Performed in Somerset East Town Hall sometime between August 1892 and May 1893, possibly by the Somerset Oos Debatsvereniging, with the author as a member of the cast.

1909-1910: Performed by the AHTV in Pretoria.