The Birds - Revision history

Satj: /* The original text */

2026-04-03T08:34:30Z

The original text

Satj: /* Translations and adaptations */

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Translations and adaptations

Satj: /* Sources */

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Sources

Satj: /* Performance history in South Africa */

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Performance history in South Africa

Satj at 04:44, 3 April 2026

2026-04-03T04:44:51Z

Satj: /* Sources */

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Sources

Satj: /* Performance history in South Africa */

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Performance history in South Africa

Satj: /* Performance history in South Africa */

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Performance history in South Africa

Satj: /* Translations and adaptations */

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Translations and adaptations

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The original text

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 == The original text ==
-A comedy about the Athenian Pisthetaerus, who convinces the birds to create a great city in the sky and become gods once more.
+A comedy about two Athenians, Euelpides and Pisthetaerus, who leave their litigation-heavy city to establish a new city in the sky with the birds, eventually challenging the gods.
 Written and performed in 414BC.

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 Numerous translations into a range of international languages have been made of it over the years, ''inter alia'' English versions by Eugene O'Neill (Jr) and Gilbert Murray,
-Translated into German as ''[[Die Vögel]]'' (Performed in Windhoek in [[South West Africa]] in 1980).
+Translated into German as ''[[Die Vögel]]'' multiple times.  (A German version performed in Windhoek in [[South West Africa]] in 1980).
 Known in Southern Africa in the English and German versions as well as translations, and adaptations into [[Afrikaans]] and other indigenous  South African languages by various authors.

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:55, 3 April 2026
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	Bound copy of ''[[Die Voëltjies]]'', held in the [[Performing Arts Research Collection]] ([[PARC]]) at the [[Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation]], Stellenbosch.		Bound copy of ''[[Die Voëltjies]]'', held in the [[Performing Arts Research Collection]] ([[PARC]]) at the [[Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation]], Stellenbosch.
		+
		+	[[SWAPAC]] News, August 1980. (In: [[George Ballot]] scrapbooks, held in the [[PARC]] research collection at the [[Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation]], Stellenbosch. Used with the kind permission of Prof Muller Ballot[http://www.stellenboschwriters.com/ballotm.html] and consulted 2026).

	Go to [[ESAT Bibliography]]		Go to [[ESAT Bibliography]]

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 : ''[[Izinyoni]]'', the [[isiZulu]] adaptation by [[Themi Gwala]] was produced in 1974 at the [[Casa Cinema]] in Port Shepstone, Natal, in aid of the LEARN fund of the [[The Daily News]]. It was open to all race groups, even though theatres in South Africa were segregated till 1977.
 : Performed by the [[Drama Society]] of the [[University of Cape Town]],
 : Performed by the [[University of Natal, Department of Speech and Drama]], adapted and directed by [[Mervyn McMurtry]].

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 ==Translations and adaptations==
-Numerous translations have been made of it over the years, ''inter alia'' English versions by Eugene O'Neill (Jr) and Gilbert Murray, as well as translations and adaptations in indigenous  South African languages by various authors.
+Numerous translations into a range of international languages have been made of it over the years, ''inter alia'' English versions by Eugene O'Neill (Jr) and Gilbert Murray,
 '''South African versions include''':

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 Programme: ''[[The Birds]]'', [[Kirstenbosch Amphitheatre]] 20 December 2011-15 January 2012.
 Review by [[Astrid Stark]], ''[[Cape Times]]'', 28 December 2011.
 Go to [[ESAT Bibliography]]

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 == Performance history in South Africa ==
 Circa 1966(?) Die Van Rensburg version done by students at [[Stellenbosch University]], featuring [[Maretha Kritzinger]], [[G. de Villiers]], [[Sandra Floyd]], [[J. Heyes]], [[Marianne Kotze]] and [[V. Dark]].
 : Performed by the  [[University of Natal, Department of Speech and Drama]], directed by [[Pieter Scholtz]] using the D.Fitts and W. Arrowsmith translation.

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 == Performance history in South Africa ==
-Circa 1966(?) Die V version done by students at [[Stellenbosch University]], featuring [[Maretha Kritzinger]], [[G. de Villiers]], [[Sandra Floyd]], [[J. Heyes]], [[Marianne Kotze]] and [[V. Dark]].
+Circa 1966(?) Die Van Rensburg version done by students at [[Stellenbosch University]], featuring [[Maretha Kritzinger]], [[G. de Villiers]], [[Sandra Floyd]], [[J. Heyes]], [[Marianne Kotze]] and [[V. Dark]].
 : Performed by the [[Drama Society]] of the [[University of Cape Town]], in the [[Little Theatre]],  directed by [[Peter Kleinschmidt]], using the Arrowsmith translation.

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 ''[[Die Voëls]]'' ("The birds") by the classicist and translator [[J.P.J. van Rensburg]] is described as a "nabootsing van Aristophanes se anapeste" (i.e. an attempt to imitate Aristophanes's use of anapest metrical pattern) and was published  in 1966 as "Aristophanes: Die Voëls, 685-722" in the centenary number of the ''Klassieke Nuusbrief'', the newsletter of the Classical Association of the [[University of Stellenbosch]].
-A four page [[Afrikaans]] text by an unnamed author, simply titled ''[[Die Voëls]]'' and credited to Aristophanes, was found in the [[Stellenbosch Drama Department]] archives in 2022. In this case it indicates the names of performers who seem to have appeared in a production of it. No indication when or by whom.  The names given are: [[Maretha Kritzinger]], [[G. de Villiers]], [[Sandra Floyd]], [[J. Heyes]], [[Marianne Kotze]] and [[V. Dark]]. The nature of the text seems to suggest it may have been written for performance by children or puppets.
+A four page [[Afrikaans]] text by an unnamed author, simply titled ''[[Die Voëls]]'' and credited to Aristophanes, was found in the [[Stellenbosch Drama Department]] archives in 2022. In this case it indicates the names of performers who seem to have appeared in a production of it. No indication when or by whom the text was written or performed.  The names given are: [[Maretha Kritzinger]], [[G. de Villiers]], [[Sandra Floyd]], [[J. Heyes]], [[Marianne Kotze]] and [[V. Dark]]. The nature of the text seems to suggest it may have been written for performance by children or puppets.
-''[[Die Voëltjies]]'' ("The little birds") is a one-act play by [[Kobus Strydom]], said to be based on ''[[The Birds]]'' by Aristophanes, trasported to a Souyth African setting with local names for the characters. A bound copy of the typed text (a handwritten note suggesting it belonged to a "Mr Hanekom" and that 5 copies were to be made) was found in the [[Stellenbosch Drama Department]] archives in 2022.
+''[[Die Voëltjies]]'' ("The little birds") is a one-act play by [[Kobus Strydom]], said to be based on ''[[The Birds]]'' by Aristophanes, transposed to a South African setting with local names for the characters. A bound copy of the typed text (a handwritten note suggesting it belonged to a "Mr Hanekom" and that 5 copies were to be made) was found in the [[Stellenbosch Drama Department]] archives in 2022 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.
 ''[[Die Hand Vol Vere]]'' ([[Afrikaans]] for "The Hand Full of Feathers") is an adaptation by [[André P. Brink]](1971), a satire which comments on South Africans and the politics of the time (See [[ESAT Bibliography Van S-Van Z|Van Zyl Smit]], 2005). The text was apparently not published.
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 ''[[Izinyoni]]'' ([[isiZulu]] for "Birds") is a 1974 adaptation by [[Themi Gwala]].
-''[[Boklied]]'' ([[Afrikaans]] for "Goat Song") is a play by [[Breyten Breytenbach]]. As both [[ESAT Bibliography Van S-Van Z|Van Zyl-Smit]] (2005, p.273) and [[ESAT Bibliography Com-Cop|Conradie]] (1998, pp. 15-22) have pointed out, the second act of Breytenbach's complex and controversial play is a reworking of '''''The Birds'''''.
+''[[Boklied]]'' ([[Afrikaans]] for "Goat Song") is a play by [[Breyten Breytenbach]]. As both [[ESAT Bibliography Van S-Van Z|Van Zyl-Smit]] (2005, p.273) and [[ESAT Bibliography Com-Cop|Conradie]] (1998, pp. 15-22) have pointed out, the second act of Breytenbach's complex and controversial play is a reworking of ''[[The Birds]]''.
 == Performance history in South Africa ==