Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

From ESAT
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
(42 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
'''Welcome to:'''
+
__NOTOC__
  
'''''[[THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SOUTH AFRICAN THEATRE, FILM, MEDIA AND PERFORMANCE]]'''''</big>
+
'''The Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance''' ('''ESAT''') is an [[Open access|open-access]], online record of theatre, film, media and performance in South Africa — its history, forms, people and places.
  
Founding editor: '''[[Temple Hauptfleisch]]'''
+
''Founding editor: [[Temple Hauptfleisch]]. A project of the [[University of Stellenbosch]] Drama Department.''
  
A project of the '''[[University of Stellenbosch]]'''
+
----
  
 +
''<small>This page last updated on 4 July 2026.</small>''
  
<small>''This page was last modified on 10 March, 2026.''</small>
+
== Start here ==
  
='''ESAT News'''=
+
* '''[[The ESAT Entries|Browse all entries]]''' — over 25,500 entries, grouped into sixteen categories.
 +
* '''Search''' — use the search box at the top right of the page (or press Alt+F) to jump straight to a person, play, venue or company.
  
=='''[[ESAT]] recognized at the 2025 [[Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards]]'''==
+
''The encyclopaedia holds over 25,500 full entries. Since its launch in 2011 the main page has been viewed over 2.3 million times, and all its articles over 132 million times.''
  
<small>During the 60th [[Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards]] held in Cape Town in March 2025, founder and general editor Professor [[Temple Hauptfleisch]] was awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for dedicating his career to researching and documenting theatre in South Africa, and for establishing the [[open access]], online, [[Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance]] ([[ESAT]]), "... which is now considered an essential aid to theatre studies and research, and for the theatre industry" (cited from the ''Commendatio'').</small>
+
== What's New? ==
  
=='''Current user statistics'''==
+
'''July 2026 — New entries: contemporary performance-makers and the Woordfees drama archive'''
  
<small>The encyclopaedia currently has over 25,000 full entries (over 37 000 if you count bots, re-directs and similar items), the site's main page has been accessed 2,013,196 times by 27 January 2026. By the end of February 2026, the various other articles in the encyclopaedia combined recorded over 118 million views since its formal launch in 2011.</small>
+
More than 70 new entries have been added to ESAT over recent weeks, with a strong focus on contemporary South African performance.
  
=='''The [[ESAT archive]]''' finds a home==
+
A group of entries documents the Johannesburg live-arts world of [[Jefferson Tshabalala|Jefferson Tshabalala ("J. Bobs")]] — his production house [[Kiri Pink Nob|Kiri Pink Nob Arts]] and his works ''[[Khongolose Khommanding Khommissars]]'', ''[[Ekasi Lam]]'' and the game-show series ''[[J.Bobs Live]]'' — alongside the collaborative duo [[Theatre Duo]] ([[Billy Langa]] and [[Mahlatsi Mokgonyana]]) and the award-winning Afrikaans production house [[Polony]]. The poet-performer [[Kgafela oa Magogodi]] has also been documented for the first time.
  
<small>Since the beginning of the project in 2010 the editors of [[ESAT]] have accumulated a large body of documentation on the performing arts in South Africa, much of it generated by the [[ESAT]] research itself, but a large part of it also received in the form of donations by interested individuals of collections of programmes, posters, photographs, texts, journals, books, articles and other materials.
+
New play and company entries include the dark comedy ''[[Amper, Vrystaat]]'' by [[Nico Scheepers]], the one-man music-theatre piece ''[[Ek is nie Danie]]'' by [[Danie Marais]], the Cape Town company [[Spark in the Dark]], and a run of Afrikaans works and translations such as ''[[Skeer op Richmond]]'' ([[Saartjie Botha]]), ''[[Bullets over Bishop Lavis]]'' ([[Christo Davids]] and [[Jody Abrahams]]), ''[[Skop]]'', ''[[Grieta kry geleerdheid]]'', ''[['n Lewe in die Teater]]'' and ''[[Voor ek vergeet]]''.
  
Initially regarded as an informal collection of archival documents and other materials (permanently or temporarily) in the possession of, or stored by, the editor and used in writing the entries, it is generally referred to as the '''[[ESAT archive]]''' throughout the [[ESAT]] encyclopaedia when listed as a source.
+
On the festival side, the [[Sanlam Dramafees]] — the former sponsor-branded name of the [[Woordfees|US Woordfees]] drama programme in Stellenbosch, used in the early 2010s and later renamed the Toneelfees — now has an entry, together with the first production write-ups from the 2010 festival: ''[[Maskermaan]]'' by [[Cecilia du Toit]], ''[[Suurgat II]]'' by [[Leon Kruger]], ''[[Daan de Wet hou sy oog op die bal]]'' by [[Gaerin Hauptfleisch]], and ''[['n Koeksister vir Zuma]]'', [[Pieter-Dirk Uys]]'s satirical solo turn as [[Evita Bezuidenhout]]. A new overview entry on [[South African sketch comedy]] traces the form's local history.
  
However, by 2024 this collection had grown so much that an alternative home became essential, one where the material and information would be available to all researchers. At the suggestion of Professor [[Stephanus Muller]] of the [[Africa Open Institute]] ([[AOI]]) at the [[University of Stellenbosch]], plans were made to create a research collection of performing arts materials in the institute. This became a reality with the support of the [[Het Jan Marais Fonds]] in May 2025, when [[Esther Marie Pauw]] was appointed as the first administrator of the collection, charged with collating, sorting and indexing the materials in the various theatre and music collections and donations that make up the larger entity.</small>
+
New reference and screen-history entries include the documentary filmmaker [[Michael Duffett]] (1956–2021) and the film ''[[The Gods Must Be Crazy]]'' (1980); the bilingual essay collection ''[[Die Breytie-Boek/The Breytie Book]]'', dedicated to [[P.P.B. Breytenbach]]; the cabaret ''[[Die Siel van Eugene Marais]]'' by [[Amanda Bothma]]; and J.M. Barrie's classic ''[[Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up]]''.
 +
Browse all new additions via [[Special:NewPages|recent additions]] or explore the full encyclopaedia at [[The ESAT Entries]].
  
='''<big>Go directly to the listing of contents</big>'''=
+
'''June 2026 — New entries: people, plays, companies and venues'''
  
 +
Fifty new entries have been added to ESAT this month, spanning four centuries of South African theatre history.
  
'''NOTE: ''To skip the introductory notes and instructions for using the encyclopaedia and go directly to the listing of contents, simply click in the link below:''
+
Among the new personality entries, [[Pieter Madibuseng Odendaal]] is a bilingual Afrikaans and English poet, playwright and educator whose multilingual drama ''[[Droomwerk]]'' won the 2021 [[ATKV-Woordveertjie]] and was nominated for the [[Hertzog Prize]]. [[Adrian van Wyk]], who has also performed as "Diff", is a Cape Town–based performance poet, filmmaker and cultural historian, documented here for the first time. Two historical figures have also been added: [[Vivienne Adley]], a Durban-born singer and actress who performed widely in the mid-twentieth century; and [[Thomas Barrow-Dowling]] (1861–1926), a British-born organist and choirmaster who made a significant contribution to musical life in South Africa.
  
'''<big>[[The ESAT Entries|INDEX TO ESAT ENTRIES]]</big>'''
+
On the plays side, ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel]]'', the 1903 adventure drama by Baroness Orczy, and ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'', Edward Rose's 1895 adaptation of Anthony Hope's novel, both have new entries documenting their South African performance histories. New SA work is represented by ''[[What the Water Remembers]]'', a collaboratively created multilingual spoken-word production, and ''[[Droomwerk]]'', noted above.
  
=<big>'''About [[ESAT]] and how to use it'''</big>=
+
Two companies have been added. [[Wela Kapela Productions]], founded in 2018 by [[Amanda Bothma]], is a contemporary touring production company. At the other end of the timeline, [[Morgan and Wheatman's English Pantomime Company]] was a British touring company that brought pantomime to South African audiences in the late nineteenth century. The [[Carlton Theatre]] in Johannesburg, which opened in September 1912 in the same block as the original Carlton Hotel, has also been documented for the first time as a venue entry.
  
=='''Introduction to the ''[[ESAT]]'' project'''==
+
Browse all new additions via [[Special:NewPages|recent additions]] or explore the full encyclopaedia at [[The ESAT Entries]].
  
==='''The project'''===
+
'''May 2026 — New contributors'''
 +
: Volunteers [[Martin Botha]], [[Riaan Oppelt]], [[Annel Pieterse]] and [[Kevin Turner]] have joined the editorial team. See [[Contributing to ESAT]] to find out how to help.
  
The ''[[ESAT]]'' encyclopaedia-project was conceived as an interactive resource for researchers interested in the evolution, history and forms of performance and media in South Africa, and it is based on research originally undertaken by the ''[[Centre for South African Theatre Research]]'' under the auspices of, and with the support of, the [[Human Sciences Research Council]] ([[HSRC]]) between 1979 and 1987. In 1988 the research was transferred to, and continued at, the [[University of Stellenbosch]] by the ''[[Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies]]'', with the support of the University's Division for Research Development, the former [[Centre for Science Development]] ([[CSD]])  and the [[National Research Foundation]] ([[NRF]]). The website was opened for public use in 2011.  
+
'''May 2025 — The ESAT archive finds a home'''
 +
: ESAT's growing collection of programmes, posters, photographs and texts is now held in the [[Performing Arts Research Collection]] (PARC), established in 2025 at the [[Africa Open Institute]], [[University of Stellenbosch]], with the help of Prof [[Stephanus Muller]]. [[Esther Marie Pauw]] was appointed as its first administrator.
  
'''''Please note that any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the particular author(s) and that none of the sponsors of the project accept any liability in this regard.'''''
+
'''March 2025 — ESAT recognised at the [[Fleur du Cap]] Theatre Awards'''
 +
: At the 60th [[Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards]], founding editor [[Temple Hauptfleisch]] received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his career documenting South African theatre and for establishing ESAT.
  
The project is currently headed by [[Temple Hauptfleisch]] (original founder, editor-in-chief and project director of the undertaking), with the assistance of [[Freddy Ogterop]], [[Ivor Markman]], [[Karina Hauptfleisch]], [[Darryl Nel]]  and [[Christo Snyman]] as assistant editors, while numerous contributors across the globe have helped in collating and writing the information since its first inception. It uses the standard  [[Wiki]] programme and is published on the web with the assistance of  the [[University of Stellenbosch, Department of Drama|Drama Department]] (http://www.sun.ac.za/drama) and its former [[Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies]], the IT staff of the [[J.S. Gericke Library]] and the division for Information Technology at the [[University of Stellenbosch]] (http://www.sun.ac.za/index.asp).
+
== About ESAT ==
  
'''''For more detailed information on the nature of the project, including the history and aims of the encyclopaedia and the names of all the editors, researchers and supporting staff involved - go to their entry on the encyclopaedia by clicking on the link below:'''''
+
ESAT grew out of research by the Centre for South African Theatre Research between 1979 and 1987, continued at the [[University of Stellenbosch]] from 1988, and opened to the public online in 2011. It documents the evolution, history and forms of theatre, film, media and performance in South Africa.
  
* <big>'''[[About ESAT]]'''</big>
+
It is built openly — edited by a team of research editors and written by contributors around the world — and is deliberately structured like a printed encyclopaedia, with an index of entries grouped into sixteen categories.
  
==='''Contacting the [[ESAT]] editors''' ===
+
Please note that [[ESAT]] was founded in 2010 with its main focus then conceived to be on pre-21st-century theatre, film, media and performance. However, we are very aware that we are now well into the 21st century and that [[ESAT]] will always remain a work in progress. So, though the encyclopaedia will always be incomplete and subject to occasional error, it is the aim of the contyributors to keep it as up to date and relevant as we can make it, with the help of our readers.
  
'''You can contact [[ESAT]] at the following addresses:'''  
+
For the full history and aims of the project, and list of editors, see '''[[About ESAT]]'''.
  
''Postal address'': The Editor: [[ESAT]], Department of Drama, [[University of Stellenbosch]], Private Bag X1, MATIELAND 7602, South Africa.'''''
+
== Finding your way around ==
  
''E-mail address'': satj@sun.ac.za
+
; Search
 +
: Type a name, title or keyword into the search box (top right, or Alt+F) and press Enter.
  
''Fax number'': (+ 27) 21 882 9141
+
; Browse the index
 +
: Go to [[The ESAT Entries]] for the full list of sixteen categories, each managed by a research editor.
  
==='''How to use ''ESAT'''''===
+
; Follow the links
 +
: Links shown in red mark entries not yet written. Click one, then choose "What links here" under Tools to find related mentions elsewhere in the encyclopaedia.
  
While [[ESAT]] uses the [[Wiki]] programme, which makes provision for a very useful '''''search''''' function, the database has avoided contemporary multi-screen web-design, and has been constructed rather more traditionally, like a printed encyclopaedia, with an '''[[The ESAT Entries|Index]]''' to the various entries (also called '''[[The ESAT Entries]]'''). The entries in the [[The ESAT Entries|Index]] have been grouped in '''sixteen''' distinct categories, each one managed and edited by one of the research editors.
+
'''Good to know:''' ESAT focuses on [[The main focus is on pre-21st-century theatre, film, media and performance|pre-21st-century performance]], is [[It is work in progress and thus subject to error on occasion|a work in progress]], follows a [[Policy regarding offensive language and terminology|policy on historical and offensive terminology]], and [[ESAT is not an archival facility|is not itself an archival facility]].
  
=== Four important notes for everyone using ''ESAT''===
+
== Contributing to ESAT ==
  
# '''[[The main focus is on pre-21st-century theatre, film, media and performance]]'''
+
ESAT is always growing, and all researchers, artists and interested readers are welcome to help expand, correct and update it. To find out how, see '''[[Contributing to ESAT]]'''.
# '''[[It is work in progress and thus subject to error on occasion]]'''
 
# '''[[Policy regarding offensive language and terminology]]'''
 
# '''[[ESAT is not an archival facility]]'''
 
  
''To find out more about these matters, click on the relevant item(s) listed above.''
+
== Copyright and referencing ==
  
=== Accessing the database of entries===
+
ESAT is an [[Open access|open-access]] publication. Although its content is [[Copyright|copyrighted]] to ESAT and the [[University of Stellenbosch]], it may be freely used for academic and artistic purposes, provided the use is clearly referenced and attributed to the ''Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance'' (ESAT), including the URL of the entry used.
  
To access '''database material''' on the relevant category, the reader has three options:
+
== Contact the editors ==
  
=== Using the "Search" function ===
+
; Postal
 
+
: The Editor: ESAT, Department of Drama, [[University of Stellenbosch]], Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa.
Go to the '''''"Search"''''' block at the top right of this page (or type: Alt+F),  type in the search word/phrase and click on the '''search''' icon there (the magnifying glass) or press the '''''Enter''''' button on your keyboard.
+
; E-mail
 
+
: [mailto:satj@sun.ac.za satj@sun.ac.za]
=== Using the "Index" function ===
+
; Fax
 
+
: +27 21 882 9141
Simply click on '''[[The ESAT Entries]]''' at the start of this main page (or '''[[The ESAT Entries|HERE]]''') , to go to the list of 16 categories into which the material has been divided. On the list provided, click on the appropriate one, then follow instructions on the landing page.
 
 
 
=== Using the "What links here" function ===
 
 
 
While searching for information you will notice many links are highlighted in red and a notice reading "[name] (page does not exist)" pops up. Do not give up your search at this stage. All this means is, due to the tremendous amount of work involved, a specific page on that subject/person has not yet been created. However, if you first click on the red notice, this will take you to a blank page. Next, look near the top left-hand side of the page and under "Tools" you will notice a link reading "What links here". Click on this link and it will generate a complete list of links which contain the name you're looking for. Try it, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
 
 
 
===Photographs and illustrations===
 
 
 
Photographs and illustrations in the entries are usually posted in a small format, however, the reader can see a larger version by '''clicking on the relevant photograph'''.
 
 
 
=='''NB''': Copyright and referencing of material used==
 
 
 
[[ESAT]] is an [[open access]] publication, which means that even though the material contained in the encyclopaedia is [[copyright]]ed to [[ESAT]] and the [[University of Stellenbosch]], it may be freely used for academic and artistic purposes as long as such use is clearly referenced and the material used is attributed to The '''[[Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance]]''' ('''[[ESAT]]'''), the reference also including the '''URL for the particular entry''' in [[ESAT]].
 
 
 
= <big>'''[[Contributing to ESAT]]'''</big>=
 
 
 
''All researchers, artists and other interested parties are invited to help us to expand, improve, update and correct '''[[ESAT]]''' since, by its very nature, the database will always be incomplete and prone to error on occasion.''
 
 
 
'''To find how you can contribute, click on the HEADING above.'''
 

Latest revision as of 11:59, 13 July 2026


The Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance (ESAT) is an open-access, online record of theatre, film, media and performance in South Africa — its history, forms, people and places.

Founding editor: Temple Hauptfleisch. A project of the University of Stellenbosch Drama Department.


This page last updated on 4 July 2026.

Start here

  • Browse all entries — over 25,500 entries, grouped into sixteen categories.
  • Search — use the search box at the top right of the page (or press Alt+F) to jump straight to a person, play, venue or company.

The encyclopaedia holds over 25,500 full entries. Since its launch in 2011 the main page has been viewed over 2.3 million times, and all its articles over 132 million times.

What's New?

July 2026 — New entries: contemporary performance-makers and the Woordfees drama archive

More than 70 new entries have been added to ESAT over recent weeks, with a strong focus on contemporary South African performance.

A group of entries documents the Johannesburg live-arts world of Jefferson Tshabalala ("J. Bobs") — his production house Kiri Pink Nob Arts and his works Khongolose Khommanding Khommissars, Ekasi Lam and the game-show series J.Bobs Live — alongside the collaborative duo Theatre Duo (Billy Langa and Mahlatsi Mokgonyana) and the award-winning Afrikaans production house Polony. The poet-performer Kgafela oa Magogodi has also been documented for the first time.

New play and company entries include the dark comedy Amper, Vrystaat by Nico Scheepers, the one-man music-theatre piece Ek is nie Danie by Danie Marais, the Cape Town company Spark in the Dark, and a run of Afrikaans works and translations such as Skeer op Richmond (Saartjie Botha), Bullets over Bishop Lavis (Christo Davids and Jody Abrahams), Skop, Grieta kry geleerdheid, 'n Lewe in die Teater and Voor ek vergeet.

On the festival side, the Sanlam Dramafees — the former sponsor-branded name of the US Woordfees drama programme in Stellenbosch, used in the early 2010s and later renamed the Toneelfees — now has an entry, together with the first production write-ups from the 2010 festival: Maskermaan by Cecilia du Toit, Suurgat II by Leon Kruger, Daan de Wet hou sy oog op die bal by Gaerin Hauptfleisch, and 'n Koeksister vir Zuma, Pieter-Dirk Uys's satirical solo turn as Evita Bezuidenhout. A new overview entry on South African sketch comedy traces the form's local history.

New reference and screen-history entries include the documentary filmmaker Michael Duffett (1956–2021) and the film The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980); the bilingual essay collection Die Breytie-Boek/The Breytie Book, dedicated to P.P.B. Breytenbach; the cabaret Die Siel van Eugene Marais by Amanda Bothma; and J.M. Barrie's classic Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. Browse all new additions via recent additions or explore the full encyclopaedia at The ESAT Entries.

June 2026 — New entries: people, plays, companies and venues

Fifty new entries have been added to ESAT this month, spanning four centuries of South African theatre history.

Among the new personality entries, Pieter Madibuseng Odendaal is a bilingual Afrikaans and English poet, playwright and educator whose multilingual drama Droomwerk won the 2021 ATKV-Woordveertjie and was nominated for the Hertzog Prize. Adrian van Wyk, who has also performed as "Diff", is a Cape Town–based performance poet, filmmaker and cultural historian, documented here for the first time. Two historical figures have also been added: Vivienne Adley, a Durban-born singer and actress who performed widely in the mid-twentieth century; and Thomas Barrow-Dowling (1861–1926), a British-born organist and choirmaster who made a significant contribution to musical life in South Africa.

On the plays side, The Scarlet Pimpernel, the 1903 adventure drama by Baroness Orczy, and The Prisoner of Zenda, Edward Rose's 1895 adaptation of Anthony Hope's novel, both have new entries documenting their South African performance histories. New SA work is represented by What the Water Remembers, a collaboratively created multilingual spoken-word production, and Droomwerk, noted above.

Two companies have been added. Wela Kapela Productions, founded in 2018 by Amanda Bothma, is a contemporary touring production company. At the other end of the timeline, Morgan and Wheatman's English Pantomime Company was a British touring company that brought pantomime to South African audiences in the late nineteenth century. The Carlton Theatre in Johannesburg, which opened in September 1912 in the same block as the original Carlton Hotel, has also been documented for the first time as a venue entry.

Browse all new additions via recent additions or explore the full encyclopaedia at The ESAT Entries.

May 2026 — New contributors

Volunteers Martin Botha, Riaan Oppelt, Annel Pieterse and Kevin Turner have joined the editorial team. See Contributing to ESAT to find out how to help.

May 2025 — The ESAT archive finds a home

ESAT's growing collection of programmes, posters, photographs and texts is now held in the Performing Arts Research Collection (PARC), established in 2025 at the Africa Open Institute, University of Stellenbosch, with the help of Prof Stephanus Muller. Esther Marie Pauw was appointed as its first administrator.

March 2025 — ESAT recognised at the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards

At the 60th Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, founding editor Temple Hauptfleisch received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his career documenting South African theatre and for establishing ESAT.

About ESAT

ESAT grew out of research by the Centre for South African Theatre Research between 1979 and 1987, continued at the University of Stellenbosch from 1988, and opened to the public online in 2011. It documents the evolution, history and forms of theatre, film, media and performance in South Africa.

It is built openly — edited by a team of research editors and written by contributors around the world — and is deliberately structured like a printed encyclopaedia, with an index of entries grouped into sixteen categories.

Please note that ESAT was founded in 2010 with its main focus then conceived to be on pre-21st-century theatre, film, media and performance. However, we are very aware that we are now well into the 21st century and that ESAT will always remain a work in progress. So, though the encyclopaedia will always be incomplete and subject to occasional error, it is the aim of the contyributors to keep it as up to date and relevant as we can make it, with the help of our readers.

For the full history and aims of the project, and list of editors, see About ESAT.

Finding your way around

Search
Type a name, title or keyword into the search box (top right, or Alt+F) and press Enter.
Browse the index
Go to The ESAT Entries for the full list of sixteen categories, each managed by a research editor.
Follow the links
Links shown in red mark entries not yet written. Click one, then choose "What links here" under Tools to find related mentions elsewhere in the encyclopaedia.

Good to know: ESAT focuses on pre-21st-century performance, is a work in progress, follows a policy on historical and offensive terminology, and is not itself an archival facility.

Contributing to ESAT

ESAT is always growing, and all researchers, artists and interested readers are welcome to help expand, correct and update it. To find out how, see Contributing to ESAT.

Copyright and referencing

ESAT is an open-access publication. Although its content is copyrighted to ESAT and the University of Stellenbosch, it may be freely used for academic and artistic purposes, provided the use is clearly referenced and attributed to the Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance (ESAT), including the URL of the entry used.

Contact the editors

Postal
The Editor: ESAT, Department of Drama, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa.
E-mail
satj@sun.ac.za
Fax
+27 21 882 9141