"Clavigo"

"Clavigo" was the pseudonym used by a Cape Town correspondent who contributed some items to the South African Commercial Advertiser circa 1833-35. For example, on 18 February, 1835, "Clavigo" wrote about the year's programme to be offered by the company Vlyt en Kunst, and later even wrote a set of clumsy verses (Medelyden, i.e. "empathy") pleading for support for the coming efforts of the company. (See text in Bosman, 1928: p.332).

The name was probably taken from Goethe's play Clavigo, which had been performed twice in Cape Town in 1833 by Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst. There is a strong probability of course that the pseudonym was simply one of a number under which the company leader, C.E. Boniface, sought to create some positive publicity for his theatrical endeavours - an old theatrical ploy across the globe.