Die Bedriegers
Die Bedriegers ("The ") is an Afrikaans farce by D.P. du Toit (1870-1936).
Contents
The original text
Originally written in Cape Dutch sometime between August 1892 and May 1893, and titled Di Bedriegers, it is considered to be the first fully Afrikaans play, and is a short farce about four men faking illness to avoid being called up for military duty on the border.
Rewritten the same year (to make provision for two women characters and allow women to perform), it was thereafter performed in various centres across the country. The title was later also adapted to more modern Afrikaans idiom as Die Bedriegers.
The text was long unpublished, but was eventually included in the compendium called Di bedriegers, Magrita Prinslo, en ander Afrikaanse dramas en samesprake tot 1900 by F.C.L. Bosman. Voortrekkerpers, 1942 (reprinted by Human & Rousseau, 1975 - now titled by its contemporary Afrikaans title as Die Bedrieërs.
Published in Die Storm en Ander Eenbedrywe, compiled by P.G. Nel, Perskor in 1972.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
1882/3: Performed in Somerset East Town Hall sometime between August 1892 and May 1893, possibly by the Somerset Oos Debatsvereniging, with the author as a member of the cast.
1909-1910: Performed by the AHTV in Pretoria.
Sources
Copy of the text held by AKDA[1]
Copy of a catalogue (handwritten by various hands) of the F.C.L. Bosman collection held at the Nasionale Afrikaanse Letterkunde Museum en Navorsingsentrum (NALN) in Bloemfontein.
List of Afrikaans dramas published between 1960 and 1977, compiled by NALN.
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