Hoogduitsch Gezelschap van het Liefhebbery Theater

The Hoogduitsch Gezelschap van het Liefhebbery Theater ("The High German Company for Amateur Theatre") was an amateur German-language group active at the Cape in 1802 and 1803.

According to F.C.L. Bosman (1928) the advert for their 13 February 1802 production of Die Schachmaschine oder Genie Streiche ueber Genie Streiche (Beck) is the first extant formal advertisement for any performance in South Africa.

Their other performances, not always in the original German but probably in Dutch translation, included De Wildfang (Von Kotzebue) and De Moetwillige Jongen on 17 July, 1802, and repeated on 24 July; and Die Ueberrasschung and Das Friedens-feyer on 15 March, advertised under the motto Consacré à la bien faisance Honi soit qui mal y pense.

With that they apparently ceased to exist as a German company, for nothing is heard of them after this.

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [1]: pp. 78

Programme for a performance by Deutsche Schauspieler-Gesellschaft, Düsseldorf in 1804.ZVDD Digital Collections[2]F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [3]: pp. 78,

Lesley Sharpe. 2007. National Repertoire: Schiller, Iffland and the German Stage. Peter Lang: p. 164. [4]

Simon Richter. 2005. The Literature of Weimar Classicism. Boydell & Brewer: p.142[5]

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Becker_(Schauspieler)

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