Die Dertigers
Die Dertigers
(Literally "The Thirtiers", a literary movement of 1930s) An influential movement founded by a set of young poets, the principles of which were articulated most clearly by N.P. van Wyk Louw and his brother W.E.G. Louw (both of whom went on to play key roles in the development of theatre as well.) ***
Die Beweging van Dertig
Related to Die Dertigers, was Die Beweging van Dertig ("The Movement of the Thirties") as Ludwig Binge (1969) called them in his history of Afrikaans theatre to refer to what he identified as a period of strong growth in serious theatre among amateur ranks in the 1930's. He equated it to the much more defined literary movement discussed above. Binge is tentative about this term and it never really caught on with other writers [Check Brink!!!***], for the theatre movement was clearly far less defined, radical and militant than the literary one. However, two societies, the older Cape based Kaapstadse Amateur Teater (KAT) and the new Volksteater in Pretoria did play a major role in developing a more literary approach to theatre in Afrikaans from about 1934 onwards. He identifies the key contribution of these two societies to be their joint aim of practicing theatre as an art form, thus giving substance and a public face to a growing seriousness in cultural circles, particularly in the Afrikaans community, emanating from a number of individuals (e.g. J.H.H. de Waal, H.A. Fagan, J.F.W. Grosskopf, W.H. Bell, W.A. Sewell, etc), community and cultural groups and movements (e.g. the CJV at the Nieuwe Kerk, the Unie-Debatsvereniging, the Cape Town Repertory Society, the Garrick Club in Cape Town, etc), facilities (e.g. the founding of Die Burger as a serious Afrikaans newspaper) and institutions ( e.g. the two oldest Universities in the country , UCT in Cape Town and the Victoria College in Stellenbosch (later University of Stellenbosch); the various teacher's training colleges, the Oranje Klub, the Little Theatre at UCT, the Afrikanerkoffiehuis ["Afrikaner Coffee House"] in Cape Town, and so on) since the start of the 20th century.
Sources
Binge, 1969, pp 188-231.)
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