Herr Sleeman kommer

Herr Sleeman kommer ("Mr Sleeman is Coming") is a Swedish one-act play by Hjalmar Bergman (1883-1931)[1].

The original play

Written in 1917 it tells the tale of an orphaned young woman, urged by her aunts to marry an unappealing but rich old man, Herr Sleeman.

Translations and adaptations

In 1957 a TV film version was made by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman[2]

1953: Cornelius January (1997) writes that a full-length English play entitled Mr Sleeman is Coming by Denis Rhodes Granger was produced for the Worcester Dramatic Society in 1953, directed by Granger himself. This is most probably a mistake and the play used was the English translation of the Bergman one-act play.

1963: Translated into Afrikaans as Meneer Sleeman Kom (most probably from the English) by Leonora Nel.

Performance history in South Africa

1949: Mr Sleeman is Coming was presented by the University of Cape Town’s University Dramatic Society (sponsors) at the Little Theatre in October, directed by Arnold Pearce.

1963: Meneer Sleeman Kom was first produced by PACT, as a double bill with Die Skuld van Oedipus, in the Pretoria National Theatre. Directed by Leonora Nel, with Kita Redelinghuijs, Leonora Nel, Vicki Vosloo/Phyllis Punt, Ernst Eloff and Jannie Gildenhuys.

Sources

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hjalmar-Fredrik-Elgerus-Bergman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Sleeman_Is_Coming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG9NKYfPZZA

Cornelius January 1997. 'n Vergelykende studie ten opsigte van die aktiwiteite van stedelike swart amateur gemeenskapsgroepe en plattelandse Swart amateur gemeenskapsgroepe in die apartheidsjare. Unpublished master’s thesis. Bellville: University of the Western Cape.

Donald Inskip 1972. Forty Little Years: The Story of a Theatre. Cape Town: Howard Timmins: p.136.

PACT Report 1963/64.

Go to ESAT Bibliography