"Clavigo"

"Clavigo" was the pseudonym used by a Cape Town correspondent who contributed some items to the South African Commercial Advertiser circa 1833-35.

(Not to be confused with Goethe's play Clavigo)

For example, on 18 February, 1835, "Clavigo" wrote about the year's programme to be offered by the company Vlyt en Kunst, and later even wrote a set of clumsy verses (Medelyden, i.e. "empathy") pleading for support for the coming efforts of the company. (See text in Bosman, 1928: p.332).

The name was probably taken from Goethe's play Clavigo, which had been performed twice in Cape Town in 1833 by Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst. There is a strong probability of course that the pseudonym was simply one of a number under which the company leader, C.E. Boniface, sought to create some positive publicity for his theatrical endeavours - an old theatrical ploy across the globe.