Fred Engelen

Fred Engelen (1912-1967). Actor, director, academic.

Biography

Born in Antwerp, married to Tine Balder, and they had three children Jan, Bie and Katijn. He studied at the Koninklijke Konservatorium in Antwerp where he received the Diploma in Theatre Art cum laude in 1937. He became involved with the municipal theatre in Antwerp, and in 1955 was in charge of the studio for young actors at the Royal Flemish Theatre in Antwerp.

In the mid 1950s he was offered work in South Africa as a director for the Drama Department of the University of Cape Town and returned later to work for National Theatre Organisation (NTO). In 1961 he was approached to become the first head of the newly established drama department the University of Stellenbosch, a position he held till his unexpected death in 1967, while on a sabbatical leave in the USA and Europe.

He was married to Belgian actress and costumier Tine Balder, and the couple had three children, Jan, Bie and . In Stellenbosch Tine worked as actress, lecturer and costumier for the same department.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

In 1955 he visited the School of Speech and Drama at UCT to produce Georges Bernano’s Dialogues of the Carmelites with the students (in Donald Inskip's translation titled The Chosen of God). He also does The Trial by Franz Kafka (1960), Max Frisch's Andorra (195*) and a professional production for NTO of Die Koopman van Venesië (1955).

In 1961 Engelen was invited back to South Africa to become the first professor and head of the Drama Department at the University of Stellenbosch. He held this position until his unexpected death in 1967. In this period he also initiated and oversaw the construction of the H.B. Thom Theatre in Stellenbosch and did numerous productions with the students as well as professional companies.

Sadly and unexpectedly he died during a visit to Stuttgart, while on sabbatical leave in the USA and Europe during 1967. He was apparently was slated to direct a Felmish translation of Bartho Smit's Put Zonder Water for Belgian television and was meant to arrive in Belgium on 3 December 1967, after his visit to Germany, but underwent surgery for appendicitis in Stuttgart and died there from post operative complications in December 1967.

Over the course of his period at Stellenbosch he both produced and acted in many plays for the Department, including Caesar (1965), Macbeth (1967).

He directed Besoek van die Ou Dame (NTO, 1962; directed and played Philip II in Don Carlos, 1966, for PACOFS.

[FdV, TH]

Sources

Obituary in Die Burger, 5 December 1967.

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

Percy Tucker 1997. Just the Ticket. My 50 Years in Show Business. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.

E-mail correspondence from Bie Engelen (15 March, 2021)

E-mail correspondence from Pieter Fourie (12 February, 2021)

E-mail correspondence from Franz Marx (13 February, 2021)

Go to ESAT Bibliography

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