Many plays are written by authors and performed by performers who, for various reasons, are unknown or prefer to be anonymous or to hide their identity in certain instances.

Where the names of authors are unknown, they are mostly listed as "Anonymous", but if the authors simply want to hide their identities, they may make use of a number of techniques, e.g. the use of a pseudonym or nom de plume, the omission of a name altogether, or the use of a phrase to indicate something like local authorship.

Similarly of course, performers and other theatre and film practitioners have for centuries employed stage names to hide their identities or to make them sound more acceptable, mysterious, artistic, etc.

Pseudonyms

Descriptive phrases as indications of local authorship

Besides omitting to mention an author altogether or using a pseudonym, a number general phrases have been used over time to identify as a local personality.

In Cape Town for example, one finds examples such as "A Gentleman of the Cape" (1858), "A Young Lady of Cape Town" (1870),