P.P.B. Breytenbach
P.P.B. Breytenbach (1904-1984) was an educator, social worker, amateur actor and - most compellingly - a charismatic activist for the arts, particularly theatre, a mentor for numerous theatre personalities and an enormously influential theatre administrator.
While formally and widely known as P.P.B. Breytenbach, he was more intimately and popularly referred to as Breytie or Oom Breytie ("Uncle Breytie") by people in the theatre industry.
Contents
Biography
Born Petrus Philippus Benjamin Breytenbach in Wepener in the Orange Free State on 24 January, 1904, he went to school in Bethlehem, then moved to Bloemfontein where he studied privately, becoming a teacher of commercial subjects. He became interested in theatre through the performer Danie Smal (1889-1976) and the amateur productions he saw in Bloemfontein. Moving to Krugersdorp in 1926, he initially started his own school, then in 1927 also became a teacher at - and 1929 principal of - the Krugersdorp Technical College, a post he held till his resignation in 1951.
Having become the full-time director of the National Theatre Organisation in 1952, he moved to Pretoria, where he would live for the rest of his life.
He married to Evelyn Tiffin in 1930 and the couple adopted 5 children over the years. After Evelyn died in 1967, he married his personal assistant of almost 30 years, Doris Lancaster, in 1968.
Breytie and Doris were active members of the Rotary Club of Pretoria and continued working for the theatrical cause till his death in 1984, most notably in his championing of matters such as permanent employment and pension benefits for veteran performers and technicians, including the establishment of a retirement home for such individuals in Polana Court in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, in 1981.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
His belief in theatre as a cultural asset and an instrument for education was engendered in 1926 and he became in succession the first Afrikaans member of and an actor, director, technician and stage manager for the Krugersdorp Dramatic and Operatic Club (later the Krugersdorp Municipal Dramatic and Operatic Society). He was elected as Chairman from 1933-1952.
Among the plays he did as actor were A Mystery (1929), Borrowed Plumes (1929), Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury (1929), Shaw's The Apple Cart (1930), Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan (1930).
Breytenbach directed (and often acted in) a number of Afrikaans works for them, including Koppigheid (Viljoen, 1930), Elkeen sy eie (Schumann, 1931), Die Stoplap (Spiethoff, 1932), In die Dae van Jan van Riebeeck (Metelerkamp, 1932).
Breytenbach was a firm believer in Hertzog’s vision of a unification of Afrikaans- and English-speakers and believed the theatre could be a powerful tool towards this end. He therefore actively promoted the co-existence of the two languages during his period at the helm of the Krugersdorp Municipal Dramatic and Operatic Society (KMDOS).
Arts administrator
Breytenbach held a number of key roles within the South African theatre community:
- Founder and first President of the Federation of Amateur Theatrical Societies of Southern Africa (FATSSA – 1938-1952)
- founder and first President of the board of governors of the National Theatre Organisation (NTO –1947-1952)
- full-time Director of NTO (1952-1962)
- on the dissillusion of NTO, first Director of the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal (PACT – 1962-1967)
- co-founder and first vice -President of the South African Institute of Theatre Technology (SAITT) (1969-)
- curator of the National Documentation Centre for the Performing Arts at the Human Sciences Research Council (1971-1972 – donating his vast personal records to the institution)
- Chairman of the board of directors of the Theatre Residential Clubs (1981-1984)
He was a member of the board of directors of inter alia:
- the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO – 1967-1984)
- the Market Theatre Foundation (1976-1984)
- the National Afrikaans Literary Museum and Research Centre (NALN – 197*-1984).
Also held numerous posts in education and social work, and was an active member of the Rotary movement.
Awards, honours
Among the many honours bestowed on him for his work in theatre are the Queen’s Coronation Medal (1953), the Pretoria Centenary Medal (1955), the first Golden Mask Award from SAMRO (1981) and an honorary doctorate from the University of the Witwatersrand (1980). [TH, JH]
Sources
L.W.B. Binge 1969. Die Ontwikkeling van die Afrikaanse Toneel (1832-1950), Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik.
Temple Hauptfleisch (ed). 1985. The Breytie Book[], Johannesburg: The Limelight Press.
P.J. du Toit. 1988. Amateurtoneel in Suid-Afrika. Pretoria: Academica
Johan van Rooyen. 1981. "Heenkome vir SA se verhoogveterane", Hoofstad, 26 August: p. 11
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