De Nieuwe Ridderorde of De Temperantisten

De Nieuwe Ridderorde of De Temperantisten (lit. "The New Knighthood/New Chivalric Order, or the 'Temperantists'/People of the Temperance Movement"), is a satirical play in four acts and 26 scenes by Charles Etienne Boniface (Dates uncertain: 1787-1853/1788-1854).

The original text

The work was for a long time the first recorded play in Dutch-Afrikaans and satirized the wave of English philanthropic puritanism which was sweeping the Cape at the time, a movement which was ultimately to lead to the freeing of the slaves in 1834 and strong prohibitionist measures against alcohol abuse. Though written in Dutch, it contained some of the first Afrikaans on stage, set in the mouths Cape Dutch and drunken "Hottentot" characters, including one "Grietje Drilbouten". Although written in dramatic form, it was never performed, but written as a polemical and satirical burlesque, to be read - and indeed may have been too virulous to perform. It appears to be have been very successful, both commercially and polemically, and for a while established Boniface as an important writer.

Some suggest that it had possibly already been written in 1825, under the title De Nieuwe Ridderorde ("The New Knighthood" or "The New Chivalric Order"), though elsewhere it is suggested that that Boniface had in fact written a separate work under this title in 1825.

In the published version of the play (P.A. Brand, Market Square, Cape Town, 1832) it appears on the title-page with the double title of De Nieuwe Ridderorde, with De Temperantisten as the alternative title.

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