J.C. Combrink

J.C. Combrink (1838-1920) was a prominent businessman, director amateur actor, ballet master and leading figure in Dutch and English theatre in Cape Town during the second half of the 19th century. Also referred to as J. Combrink, Jno Combrink or Johan Combrink in some sources. (Du Toit, 1988 even has it as C.J. Combrink)

A remarkable man in many ways, J.C. Combrink was a successful printer and compositor by trade, but also renowned for his swimming exploits and courage (as life-saver for instance - he apparently prevented a number of people from drowning , and saved at least one person from a burning home). He made his home at Oudekraal on the Atlantic coast in the 1870s, probably setting up as a dairy farmer. He had a road built from Camps Bay to his home, where set up a resting station for individuals en route to Hout Bay. He would later become known as "the father of Camps Bay" for his various contributions to the community.

His contribution to South African theatre and performance

A staunch supporter of all kinds of theatre, he is mentioned by Jill Fletcher and F.C.L. Bosman as an instigator of theatrical events, a leader of companies and a director of both Dutch and English works. Though he initially worked in both English and Dutch, as we shall see, he gradually began to focus on Dutch and Afrikaans theatre, becoming the leading figure ("Bestuurder" i.e. "Manager") of Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst (originally founded in 1849), reviving it in 1865. He was to be particularly influential after 1868, when he not only ran his own society, but also joined Melt Brink's Aurora and apparently performed for them from time to time, and for a period (1876-1883) collaborated with another company, De Eendracht. He and Brink thus ended up dominating Dutch and Afrikaans theatre in Cape Town and environs for much of the second half of the 19th century. According to Bosman (1980: p.442) Combrink was actually became a semi-professional player in the 1870s, often working as director/performer for a fee, though his company members were unpaid amateurs.

He is first mentioned as a performer in 1855, when he must have been about 16-18 years old, when he participated in Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst's series of "Balaclava Benefit Performances" for soldiers participating in the Crimean war. He is later mentioned by Ludwig Binge (1969, p. 11) as a useful actor for Aurora, playing the lead opposite Melt Brink in the farce Niet of Graag ("Not at all or gladly") 5 September 1867 and repeating the role 3 October 1867 (billed as J. Combrink). When the Duke of Edinburgh visited Cape Town in this same year, he presented scenes from King John (Shakespeare) in honour of the occasion.

In 1865 he used the concept of benefit performances by Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst to raise funds for the Free State burghers who had suffered because of the Free State–Basotho Wars (1858-1868)[1]. Performed for this purpose in the Theatre Royal Cape Town on 29 August 1865 were Adeleide van Beyeren (Loaisel-Tréogate) and De Dronkaard, of De Boer Edelman.

In 1868 he took the Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst to Stellenbosch for performances, in 1869 on a tour of the Western Cape and in 1896-1870 apparently on tours to the interior, even performing in Kimberley.

His theatrical career and that of Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst apparently ended with a production of Het Geheim and De St Nicolaas Avond in the Opera House, Cape Town on Tuesday 7 July 1896, after which he became quiet for the duration of the Boer War. However Bosman (1980: pp. 50) does refer to a "few productions", citing a rather scathing review by D.C. Boonzaier (1923:434), of a another (to his mind sadly dated) production of Het Geheim by a J. Combrink and Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst in 1910. This was also apparently the last production to take place in the Good Hope Theatre.

Sources

Ludwig Binge, 1969: pp. 9, 11

D.C. Boonzaier, 1980. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1932. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [2]: pp. 57, 253, 442, 463, 492, 511

F.C.L. Bosman, 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II: 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 46, 48, 50, 434, 441-4, 447, 449-51, 461.

Jill Fletcher, 1994: pp. 77, 105-6, 109.

J.C. Kannemeyer 1984 Geskiedenis van die Afrikaanse Literatuur Deel 1. Cape Town: Tafelberg[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State%E2%80%93Basotho_Wars

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