South African Theatre/Plays

Original lists compiled by Temple Hauptfleisch, with extensive help from Yvette Hutchison, Hilda van Lill, Miriam Terblanche, Johann van Heerden and Hannah Borthwick.

Introductory notes

The lists

In this section we have four main lists of plays and performances, to distinguish between:

Plays I: Original SA plays Plays and performances created (or at least significantly adapted and/or "localized") in South Africa or by South African authors.

Plays II: Foreign plays Texts created elsewhere, but performed or influential in South Africa.

Plays III: Collections A list of play collections containing original South African works.

Plays IV: Pageants and public performances A list of pageants and other theatrical events not normally considered "plays", but which nevertheless constitute "performances".

General notes for using this section

What is included

The lists are all arranged alphabetically according to the title of the play, the title of the collection of plays , etc. It is important to note that there may be a number of plays that are usually assumed to be original South African works, but which may in fact be re-workings or translations of foreign plays and stories. In such cases, the play will be listed in Plays II – so readers are advised to consult both lists when looking for a play.

Also included in this section are theatrical events or performance of another nature. Under the separate listing (Plays IV: Pageants and public performances) we provide links to public celebrations, pageants and tableaux, and other such one-off events which in some way be said to constitute performances in themselves (Please note that such events may include a number of individual performances in their structure, which will then ALSO be listed as individual performances in the appropriate "plays" sections). The events are arranged according to the name of the particular public event or pageant (e.g. The Empire Exhibition, Centenary celebrations of the Great Trek, the Emancipation Centenary Celebrations, the Presidential Inauguration of Nelson Mandela, etc.)

Festivals, competitions and similar annual events, made up of different individual performances, debates, exhibitions, etc. are listed under a separate category, South African Festivals (Section 14 in the main Index to The ESAT Entries), but they can of course also be seen as Venues for other events, hence where applicable they may also be listed in the South African Venues, Companies, Societies, etc section.(See for example The Grahamstown Festival, ATKV Amateur Toneelkompetisie)

Bibliographic conventions and usage

(1) In accordance with normal bibliographic usage, in cases where the titles of plays and performances contain one of the initial articles A, An or The, the items are listed alphabetically according to the word following that initial article. (In the case of Afrikaans the articles are 'n or Die, and in the case of Dutch Een, Di, Die, Den or Het.) The article is then put at the end of the title. To illustrate: "The Arrest by Uys Krige" is listed as "Arrest, The by Uys Krige" under #A. Similarly, the original Afrikaans version ("Die Arrestasie") is listed as "Arrestasie, Die by Uys Krige", also under #A. NB: This is however only done for the numerous works listed in Afrikaans, Dutch and English. In other languages (including the other seven South African languages such as Sotho, Xhosa and Zulu and European languages such as French or German), the full titles are listed exactly as they are, with beginning article where applicable, since the grammatical structure of most such languages are too complex and unfamiliar for us to apply this procedure consistently.

Please note that plays with titles starting with a numeral or date are placed in a separate listing marked #Numbers or dates .

(2) In the case of the second list (Plays II), the term "significant" is used to refer to plays that have had an extended life or long run over the years, or a theatrical event which had a specific and demonstrale impact on the industry and the art form in South Africa. It is obvious that the sheer number of plays produced in the country over the course of almost four centuries, we cannot possibly list all plays.

(3) Since some local authors do not necessarily (or always) acknowledge their original sources, please check BOTH lists when looking for a play. Adapted/translated plays are listed under their local titles in Plays II , then cross-referenced to the original title. (Thus for example Umabatha will be listed in Plays II with a cross-referencing to Macbeth, while Absolom, My Seun! will be cross-referenced to John Ferguson by St John Ervine.)

(4) For ease of reference the plays by Shakespeare are not listed under their full Elizabethan title in Plays II, but under the the briefer, more familiar titles used by the general public. (e.g. Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, etc.) The same is often true of the titles for the Greek, Roman and other translated plays.

(5) In the case of Collections (Plays III) only the titles of South African texts contained in the volume are listed here under "Contains". For details about the individual plays see Plays I and II (under name of the individual play)

(6) In the section on "Pageants and Public Events" (Plays IV), the events are dealt with as performances, and each one is thus listed under its title in the same way a play may be. However, should any of these events be made up of or contain smaller entities (e.g. plays, performances, exhibitions etc), details about the individual plays will be found in Plays I and Plays II (under name of the individual play).

Navigation

Click on the appropriate sub-section in the list below to go to that section. There you will find an alphabetical listing of links to entries in that sub-section. In the case of plays and performances, arranged alphabetically according the author(s) , in the case of collections or pageants alphabetically according the title of the work. There you then click on the relevant letter of the alphabet to go to the specific entry.

The subsections

PLAYS I: Original SA plays Original South African texts or significant adaptations

PLAYS II: Foreign plays Significant South African productions of foreign plays

PLAYS III: Collections Published play collections and literary anthologies containing original South African texts or significant adaptations.

PLAYS IV: Pageants and public performances

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