Clasius, of Het Proces om een Komedie-Lootje

Clasius, of Het Proces om een Komedie-Lootje is a satirical after-play in two acts, with music, by Charles Etienne Boniface (1787-1853 or 1788-1854).

While this is the most commonly accepted final title, the play is usually simply referred to as Clasius in the literature. The full title has also been given as Clasius Stupidibus Bavianus, of Het Proces om een Komedielootje or Clasius, of Het Proces om een Komedielootje by some authors. It later acquired another new title (again in two versions) Nog Net Zoo ("still the same") , or sometimes written as one word (Nognetzoo).

The original text

A satire on people in Cape Town, including his arch rival Joseph Suasso de Lima, in which the latter is equated to a learned baboon, it was originally announced (on 24 may 1834) as De Gekwetste Reputatie, of Het Komedielootje ("The wounded reputation, or the comedy lottery ticket"). It finally became Clasius, of Het Proces om een Komedie-Lootje ("Clasius, or the process/events surrounding a comedy lottery ticket").

The text was not formally published till 19**, but was available in a number of printed texts in Cape Town. The one used by F.C.L. Bosman for his study contains a caricature of De Lima on the inside cover, and the title page has: "Clasius, of Het Proces om een Komedie-Lootjie. Kluchtig en Geschiedkundig Treurspel" ("Clasius, or The Process of the Comedy-lottery ticket. [A] farcical and historical tragedy"). The publisher is given as Vlyt en Kunst 1834. F.C.L. Bosman (1928: pp. 323-330) provides quite a comprehensive discussion and description of the work (in Afrikaans).

Translations and adaptations

Revised by Boniface himself and renamed Nog Net Zoo, with minor adjustments and an additional scene ("Castor and Pollux"), (Bosman again has this title in two versions: Nog Net Zoo and Nognetzoo), and performed under this title in 1834 and 1836.

Performance history in South Africa

1834: Performed on 24 May by Vlyt en Kunst under the original title of De Gekwetste Reputatie, of Het Komedielootje, as interlude between Robert Maxwell, of De Offerdood (Kotzebue) and De Wonderdoctor (Molière).

1834: Performed under the new title of Clasius, of Het Proces om een Komedielootjie by Vlyt en Kunst on 19 July 1834, with De Vaandrig (Schroder). The actors in the piece were A.J. Lind, J. de Kock, P.A. Ley, H. Ley, J. Tyrholm, E.G. de Roubaix, P. Baard and J.M. Wolhuter.

1834: Performed in a revised version, with minor adjustments, on 13 September, now under the new title of Nog Net Zoo, in the African Theatre by Vlyt en Kunst.

1836: Performed as Nognetzoo in the African Theatre by Vlyt en Kunst on 10 September, as afterpiece to Montoni (Duval/Bruggemans), accompanied by a one-act comic ballet called Het Fancy Bal!!!, and, as an interlude, a "zeer prachtig Transparant" ("a very beautiful transparency" (as cited by Bosman) by Den Heer Poortemans. Music provided by the musical group De Vriendschap. The evening was as a benefit (and revenge?) for the secretary J.J. de Kock, who had lost a litigation case against Joseph Suasso de Lima, the but of the satire in the play.