Die Pluimsaad Waai Ver

Die Pluimsaad Waai Ver (lit. “The seed of the plume is wafted far”) is an Afrikaans play by N.P. van Wyk Louw.

The original text

Commissioned by the Performing Arts Council for the Transvaal for the first Republic Festival, it is a polemical historical drama in verse. It focuses on a reinterpretation of the Anglo-Boer War and the notion of an Afrikaner Nation. The fact that the play asks “what is a nation?” led to a direct confrontation with Prime Minister H.F. Verwoerd and significantly broadened the growing split between the government and the more liberal Afrikaner writers.

The text play was published as Die Pluimsaad Waai Ver, of Bitter Begin ("The seed of the plume is wafted far, or bitter beginning") by Human & Rousseau in 1972.

Performance history in South Africa

1966: First staged in the Little Theatre, Pretoria and the Brooke Theatre in Johannesburg, directed by Truida Louw, with Anna Neethling-Pohl as the narrator, Roelf Laubscher (Willem Vermaas), Sandra Kotze (Sannie Vermaas), Frans Kies (Veldkornet), Carel Trichardt (Grootvader Visser), Franz Marx (Jan Visser), Petru Wessels (Anna Visser), Jan Bruijns (Pres Steyn), James Norval (Ruiter), Marius Weyers (Pieter), Louis van Niekerk (Genl Cronje), Louw Verwey (Genl de Wet), Thea Kirstein (Mev Cronje), Tommy van Schalkwyk (Kapt Wolmarans), Johan Botha (Generaal) and others. Assistant director Marga van Rooy. Decor and costumes by Raimond Schoop.

1967: Staged by PACOFS, directed by Joey de Koker with Maria Bosman and Johan Botha.

1969: Staged by the Drama Department of the Stellenbosch University, in association with CAPAB, in the H.B. Thom Theatre (2-6 September) and the Bellville Civic Theatre (11-13 September), directed by Ria Olivier, with Babs Laker, Tommie Smit, Pieter Bredenkamp, Hermann Pretorius, Gerhard Roux, Charles Fryer, Michael Stewart, Fred le Roux, Annelize van der Rijst, Johan Esterhuizen.

Sources

J.C. Steyn. 1990 "Die Pluimsaad-polemiek" in South African Journal of Cultural History, Volume 4, Issue 2, Apr 1990, p. 75 - 87

Stellenbosch University Library catalogue

PACT theatre programme, 1966.

Universiteitsteater Stellenbosch theatre programme, 1969.

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