Christine

by Bartho Smit. A highly controversial play about an Afrikaner artist haunted by his betrayal of his Jewish lover to the Nazi’s. Originally commissioned by CAPAB for the opening of the Nico Malan Theatre Complex in Cape Town in 1971, it was banned by the Administrator of the Cape Province (in his capacity as chairman of the Board) at the last minute, and shelved for a later possible workshop production, which never happened. Finally it was directed by Francois Swart for PACT in 1973 with Tine Balder, Sandra Prinsloo, Don Lamprecht and Louis van Niekerk. (The Pretoria run was threatened with banning unless certain changes were made.) First published by Tafelberg in 1971. An English translation published in Hauptfleisch and Steadman: South African Theatre: Four Plays and an Introduction by HAUM Educational in 1984. English translation by Michael Rice.

Christine opened for CAPAB at the Arena Theatre of the Nico Malan Complex in an experimental production by Esther van Ryswyk on 26 May 1987, a month after the author's death. (Source: CAPAB 25 years. Unpublished research. p 117 and 448).

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