Attentat

Attentat ("Attack") is a Swiss-German a political play written by Willi Oscar Somin (1898-1961).

Also well known under its English title of Close Quarters.

The original text

Published in German by Horst Büssow Verlag in 1935.(1934)

Translations and adaptations

Translated and adapted into English, entitled Close Quarters by Gilbert Lennox. This version premiered in London, June 25, 1935, at the Embassy Theatre and was released the same year in book form in a volume called Famous Plays of 1935, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. In March 1939 the play was also staged eight times at the John Golden Theater on Broadway.

English adaptation was translated and adapted into Afrikaans by Pieter Fourie, and entitled Wie is die Moordenaar? ("Who is the murderer?").

The English adaptation was used as the source for Två Människor ("Two People"), a 1945 film by Danish director Carl Th. Dreyer.

In 1958 Associated Television produced a TV version of Close Quarters for ITV , broadcast 24 April 1961.

Performance history in South Africa

1939: Close Quarters was presented by the Little Theatre Players at the Little Theatre in August, directed by Wensley Pithey.

1964: Performed in Afrikaans as Wie is die Moordenaar? by Pieter Fourie and a student company during university holidays, the cast including himself and Ilse Eybers(and later Christene Basson).

196? Performed in Afrikaans as Wie is die Moordenaar? was presented by the Pieter Fourie Genootskap starring Marie Pentz, Pieter Fourie (who also directed), Fanie Smit and Peter Grobbelaar.

Sources

Egholm, Morten. 2010. “From Working Class Drama to Academic Showdown: On Carl Th. Dreyer’s Use of His Literary Source in Två Människor [Two People] (1945).” Scandinavian-Canadian Journal / Études scandinaves au Canada 19: 128–143. [1]