R.U.R.

(“Rossum’s Universal Robots”) A futuristic play by Karel Çapek (1920). An apocalyptic vision of a revolution by robots which satirizes the contemporary world.

1928: Three successful performances produced by the Johannesburg Reps (according to Du Toit , 1988).

1936: Produced by the Johannesburg Reps in 1936. (The production had an amusing side-effect in South Africa: the term "robot" [pronounced "row-bot" was applied to the new automated traffic lights that had just made their appearance, and rapidly became - and has remained - the standard term for traffic lights in South African English as well as Afrikaans and other indigenous languages.)

1939: Translated into Afrikaans by M.C. Botha and produced by Volksteater in 1939, directed by Napier de Bruyn.

1947: Produced by K.A.T. in Cape Town, directed to acclaim by Napier de Bruyn.

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