Tot Leering en Vermaak

Tot Leering en Vermaak ("For learning and entertainment") was the motto under which Het Hollandsch Liefhebbery Genootschap ("the Dutch amateur company") performed in Cape Town (1803-1804).

This was the oldest known Dutch theatre company in the Cape. While Zaïre by Voltaire may have been its very fist production (on 29 January, 1803), its first (stated) performance was De Papegaay (Von Kotzebue) on March 5 1803. This was followed inter alia by a performance on 18 July 1803 (unknown play) and one on 24 September (De Elfde Junius by Holberg). Their last official performance was apparently a performance of Bramarbas, of De Snoevende Officier (a Dutch translation of Jacob von Tyboe, eller Den Stortalende Soldat, also by Holberg) on May 18, 1804, performed as a charity event in aid of the burnt down Drostdy of Stellenbosch.

From 1804 to 1809 there were no new Dutch theatre companies at the Cape. Tot Leering en Vermaak can most likely be seen as the predecessor of what later became known as the influential Dutch company Tot Nut en Vermaak in 1809.

[TH]

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [1]: pp. 56, 58, 118, 122, 126, 128

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