French theatre in South Africa

French theatre in South Africa can mean two things: (1) It can refer to productions of theatrical works in the French language, or (2) it can refer to performances of French theatrical works in translation.

(1) Productions of plays and other performance work in French has been a somewhat sporadic affair. Such productions did flourish briefly in Cape Town at the beginning of the 18th century, under the Batavian rule, when Cape Town had a number of French visitors as well as a French Garrison, but for the most part such events have been reliant on visiting companies and performers, the work of French teachers and University French Departments, authors of French or Belgian extraction (e.g. C.E. Boniface), amateur enthusiasts, and formal French organizations such as the Alliance Francaise.

(2) Productions of French plays in translation on the other hand have been enormously popular, in many of the South African languages, many of the works becoming iconic events in the history of the theatre in the country.