The Spanish Fly
The Spanish Fly (Die spanische Fliege, 1913) by German playwrights Franz Arnold (1878-1960) and Ernst Bach (1876-1929). * A farce about what happens when the male committee-members of a small town purity league are supposedly faced, twenty years later, with the consequences of their youthful indiscretions committed in respect of a cabaret dancer known as the Spanish Fly.
Performance history in South Africa
Translations and adaptations
Translated into Afrikaans as Die Spaanse Vlieg by Con de Villiers and performed by the Kaapstadse Afrikaanse Toneelvereniging on 8 August 1939, directed by Bernabie van Alphen (Leonie Pienaar according to Nel, 1972). Translated text available at the Stellenbosch University Library, Manuscripts Section. Reference 31/22/1.
Die Spaanse Vlieg an Afrikaans translation from German by C. Celliers. Presented at the Library Theatre, Johannesburg by JAATS, 1945. Members of the cast were Rheynardt Smit, Johan de Smidt, Dirk de Villiers, Frederik van Dyk, Hendrik Oberholzer, Pixie Perold, Zanne Cloete, Francis Coertze.
The Con de Villiers translation was staged again by the Kaapstadse Afrikaanse Toneelvereniging in Desember 1946, directed by Nap de Bruyn, assisted by Izak Malherbe, with Pieter Coetzer (Ludwig), Alice Willmot (Emma), Philippa Conradie (Paula), Melius Weideman (Eduard), Marie Viljoen (Wally), Matie Swart (Alois), Stephanus Malan (Dr Gerlach), Pieter Jacobs (Anton), P. Jonker (Gottlieb), Marie-Luise Conz (Mathilde), Zandbergh Jansen (Heinrich) and Retha Joubert (Marie).
Sources
South African Opinion, 2(8):23, 1945.
Kaapstadse Afrikaanse Toneelvereniging theatre programme, Desember 1946.
Go to ESAT Bibliography
Return to
Return to ESAT Templates
Return to S in Plays I Original SA Plays
Return to S in Plays II Foreign Plays
Return to S in Plays III Collections
Return to S in Plays IV: Festivals and Pageants
Return to South_African_Theatre/Plays
Return to The ESAT Entries
