The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs

The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs is a play by David Edgar (1948-)[1]

The original text

The original diarbook, called The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs and credited to Albert L. Sachs was published in 1967 by McGraw Hill, New York and in 1990 by Harper Collins. In 1990 it was also published in South Africa by David Philip, Cape Town.

Translations and adaptations

A stage adaptation of the diary was done by Edgar in 1979. The play is set in Cape Town where Albie Sachs, a young white barrister who defended many black opponents of apartheid, was arrested in 1963 and held in solitary confinement under the infamous 90-Day Law which allowed the police to hold suspects for an indefinite period.

The play tells of his bid to hold out against his interrogators who wished to break down and obtain information about his friends and clients in the South African resistance.

The play text published by Samuel French

Performances

1978: David Edgar's adaptation of the book was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Warehouse Theatre, London, in 1978, directed by Howard Davies.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Edgar_(playwright)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25087698

https://www.abebooks.com/9780586090572/Jail-Diary-Albie-Sachs-0586090576/plp

https://www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/p/66244/the-jail-diary-of-albie-sachs

https://www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/a/2145/david-edgar

https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/s5e5-the-jail-diary-of-albie-sachs/id1561929391?i=1000579549234

https://www.southafricanculturalobservatory.org.za/resource/90/Jail+diary+of+Albie+Sachs%2C+The

Royal Shakespeare Company 1979/1980 Annual report.(*Copy found in the Stellenbosch Drama Department's theatre archives and now held in the Performing Arts Research Collection (PARC) at the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation, with offices at Pieter Okkers House, 7 Joubert Street, Stellenbosch, South Africa.)

Go to ESAT Bibliography