Dit sal die blêrrie dag wies!

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Dit sal die blêrrie dag wies! ("That’ll be the bloody day!") is a play by Melvin Whitebooi (1956–2011).

(Also written Dit sal die bleddie dag wies! or Dit sal die bleddie dag wees in some cases).

Not to be confused with the play Dit sal die dag wees ("that will be the day") by Themba Ndimande

The original text

Written for the Cape Flats Players, it is a play about the demolition of District Six, in which the protagonist Moegamat Salie refuses to move, and this leading to tragic consequences.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1982: First performed by the Cape Flats Players at the Kellerprinz Drama Festival, where it won first prize. The company used part of the Kellerpinz prize money to go on tour with the play through South Africa, which became a popular standard item in the Cape Flats Players's repertoire, ultimately seeing more than 800 performances.

1984: Presented by the Cape Flats Players in the Baxter Studio, directed by Peter Braaf, with Bertram Adams, Sandra Braaf, Ivan Sylvester, Warren Petersen, Phlancia Adams, Paul Cookson.

1996: A revised version performed at the KKNK.

Sources

Melvin Whitebooi An obituary by Peter Braaf in Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 49 (1) 2012

Brian Barrow and Yvonne Williams-Short (eds.). 1988. Theatre Alive! The Baxter Story 1977-1987. Cape Town: The Baxter Theatre.

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