Die Hanekom Geselskap

Die Hanekom Geselskap (“The Hanekom Company”) is one of a number of names under which the various Afrikaans companies founded by or involving Hendrik Hanekom (1893-1952) and Mathilde Hanekom (1896-1976) were known.

Other names include Die Afrikaanse Toneelgeselskap ("The Afrikaans Theatre Company", 1925-6; 1928-1930) (or Die Afrikaanse Toneelspelers, i.e. "The Afrikaans Players"), Die Hanekom-Van Zyl-geselskap, Die Hanekoms se Geselskap ("The Hanekoms' Company").

Die Afrikaanse Toneelgeselskap ("The Afrikaans Theatre Company")

This was one of the two first companies of Afrikaans professional players to be founded in South Africa. First founded in 1925 by Hendrik Hanekom and Mathilde Hanekom as Die Afrikaanse Toneelgeselskap ("The Afrikaans Theatre Company") or Die Afrikaanse Toneelspelers ("The Afrikaans Players"), it existed for two periods - 1925-6; 1928-1930.

In the first period they did two plays, Oom Gawerjal and Liefde en Selfsug. Then, after an interim of working for the other professional company - the Paul de Groot-Toneelgeselskap - they were reconstituted once more as the Die Afrikaanse Toneelgeselskap in 1928 by Hendrik Hanekom, the company now including Mathilde Hanekom,Wena Naudé, Willem van Zyl, Leon Hofmeyr and Stephan Borcherds. In this period they toured with three plays. They managed to get the rights to Oorskotjie (Scampolo by Dario Niccodemi) from African Theatres and toured the play - with Wena Naudé in the lead - throughout the country, to the smallest towns from April till November 1928. In 1929 they did Onskuldig Veroordeel (lit "Innocently Sentenced"), said to be by one "Bayard Veiller", which was also a great box-office success. In May 1929 Siegfried Mynhardt joined the company for the tour and in 1930 James Norval. In 1930 followed Die Uur van Vergelding (1930).

Die Hanekom-Van Zyl-geselskap

In 1931 the company briefly changed its name to the Die Hanekom-Van Zyl-geselskap, with Wena Naudé and her husband Willem van Zyl as partners. This company did two touring productions in 1931: Wie is Wie? and Die Silwerkoning.

Die Hanekoms se Geselskap

After spending 1932-4 in Bloemfontein, running a drama school and performing locally with their students, the Hanekom family started a new venture, now called Die Hanekoms se Toneelgeselskap ("The theatre company of the Hanekoms"), to go on tour with D.C. Postma's Oom Paul till mid 1938. The performances were alternated with lighter fare (usually German farces or comedies in Afrikaans). The company started out in partnership with Elsa Fouché and Willie Beckmann, but after a few performances Fouche and Beckmann married and began their own company, to be replaced by Berdine Grünewald and Jaques Lochner. However, the Hanekom company was relatively stable and boasted a number of other loyal and competent players, such as Irma du Plessis and Tonius Ferreira.

It would be active from 1935 till the beginnings of the National Theatre Organisation (NTO) in 1948, making a final appearance in 1951 with En Waar Was Jy Gisteraand?.

They also had a youth company, called Die Hanekoms se Jongspan ("The Hanekoms' young people or young team"), which did Stiefkind van die Skepper in 1947 and Trou is nie Perdekoop in 1948.

Plays they performed in and/or produced

The following chronological list of plays appears on pages 242-244 of Anna Minnaar-Vos's fine biography of the Hanekoms:

1925-1926: Oom Gawerjal and Liefde en Selfsug.

Sources

Ludwig Wilhelm Berthold Binge. 1969. Ontwikkeling van die Afrikaanse toneel (1832-1950). Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 143, 150, 174-6, 195.

Anna Minnaar-Vos 1969. Die Spel Gaan Voort: Die Verhaal van Hendrik en Mathilde Hanekom. Kaapstad: Tafelberg, pp. 96-110.

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