Die See

Die See ("The Sea") is an Afrikaans play by Reza de Wet (1952-2012).

The original text

A play dealing with one day in the lives of three slave women, kept as courtesans in the Castle in Cape Town in 1795, during the battle of Muizenberg. As is often the case with De Wet, with her fondness for early English and Afrikaans writing, there are literary echoes in the play, in this case the setting and approach appear to pay homage to C. Louis Leipoldt's superb one-act play Die Heks (1923).

Written in 2010-11, it was De Wet's last play and was published in 2011 by Protea Boekhuis

Translations and adaptations

Nina van Schoor (néé Nina Reardon), De Wet's daughter, has translated the text into English as Sea. To date no performance or publication has resulted though.

Performance history in South Africa

2011: First performed on 2 April, 2011 in the Laerskool Van Reedesaal at the KKNK festival in Oudtshoorn, directed by Lindsay Reardon at the author's insistence, with Reza de Wet, Annelisa Weiland and Chiminae Ball. This was De Wet's first live appearance on stage on stage for 20 years, and also her last.

Sources

Reza de Wet. 2011. Die see. Pretoria: Protea Boekhuis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_de_Wet

https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_de_Wet

Johan Coetser. 2014. "Die See (2011) deur Reza de Wet: 'n Slawedrama?". Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe, Vol 52 (2): 235-247.

Danie Stander. 2017. "Reza de Wet – Haar Lewe en Werke", In: Programme for KKNK Festival, 2017[1]

Sandra Troskie 2011. "Die see, die Vrou" . In: LitNet, 2011-12-14

Anthea van Jaarsveld 2012. Die see by Reza de Wet. Reviewed in: Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 49(2):174-5.

Personal e-mail correspondence from Gordon Dickerson, 7 September, 2018.

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