'n Seder val in Waterkloof

An immensely popular Afrikaans farce by P.G. du Plessis about the pretentions of a Pretoria academic and the machinations of his "common" family from Klerksdorp who come to visit and upset the life of their "posh" academic colleague at his Waterkloof home, shortly before the elections for a position of chair of the Academy. The most successful and profitable play in history at the time, it was translated into English, filmed in Afrikaans by Franz Marx in 1978, and published by Tafelberg Publishers in 1977 (reprinted 1978).

Productions in Afrikaans

1975

First produced by PACT in 1975, it opened at the Breytenbach/State?* Theatre in Pretoria in 1975, and played to capacity houses there and elsewhere for many months. . Directed by ..

1977

CAPAB, opened at the Nico Malan Theatre on 22 December 1977, a repeat season in 1978.

2011

Revival in 2011 by Impresario, directed by Albert Maritz, with Chris van Niekerk, Erica Wessels, Waldemar Schultz, Perlé van Schalkwyk, Jana Fischer, Petrus du Preez, Wessel Pretorius, Janel Jordaan, Lulu Botha, Francois Jacobs and Adriaan van As. Technical director: Gaerin Hauptfleisch and Design: Leopold Senekal, Gaerin Hauptfleisch and Albert Maritz. It opened at the Innibos festival as a tribute to the life and work of the author P.G. du Plessis.

Sources

LitNet review by Paul Boekkooi[1]

English versions

An Oak falls in Bishopscourt

In the late 1970s Pieter Fourie commissioned Roy Sargeant to do the English translation and adaptation of the Afrikaans play for CAPAB Drama. It was then called An Oak falls in Bishopscourt. Then a theatrical scandal broke out, as the Board of CAPAB banned the staging of the English version of the play.

Send For Dolly

John Slemon snapped the play up and produced it at the Baxter Theatre (as Send for Dolly??**), where it was a smash hit. The adaptation by Roy Sargeant was first performed in 1986 at the Baxter Theatre Concert Hall with James Irwin, Brenda Wood, Lynita Crofford, Graham Clarke Brumilda van Rensburg, Ronald France, Christine Basson, Nico de Beer, Alida Labia, Richard Farmer and Don Maguire. Design by Peter Krummeck, directed by Don Maguire. Later, renamed Send For Dolly went on to create an unofficial South African record for a straight play when it ran for 48 weeks at the Academy Theatre in Johannesburg.

In 2004 Roy Sargeant and Brent Palmer updated the translation, translating it into English and Kaapse Engels, and relocating it from Bishopscourt to Newlands, Cape Town. Ralph Lawson directed, set design by Keith Anderson, and starring Nazli George, Ivan Abrahams, and Royston Stoffels.

Filmed version

See South African Films

Sources

LitNet review by Paul Boekkooi[2]

Cape Times 15 December 2004.

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