Wilhelm Grütter

Wilhelm Grütter (1936-2001) was an multilingual (Afrikaans, English, German) actor, dramatist, theatre critic, publisher and arts editor.

Biography

Born Johannes Adolf Wilhelm Grütter in Kingwilliamstown on 3 Februarie 1936, he matriculated at the Hoërskool Pietersburg in 1952, then went to the University of Stellenbosch in 1954, where he completed a B.A. degree with English and German as majors. While at university he served as arts editor of Die Matie (the student newspaper), was the typographical editor of Prisma and a founding member and secretary of the university chess club.

He started out as a reporter at The Cape Argus in Januarie 1957, but soon moved into the field of publicity for the following few years, beginning as a copy-writer at Central Advertising Limited, and thereafter also serving with the companies J. Walter Thompson and Van Zijl en Robinson, before joining the Cape Performing Arts Board for a five month stint as manager of the publicity section in Februarie 1964, but then returned to the publicity world, becoming the managing director of the firm Tony Williams-Short and Company in March, , and managing director of the firm from October 1974 to June 1979.

In addition to his publicity work, he also became a freelance journalist from May, 1966, writing for a number of newspapers and periodicals, as well as doing radio work. He also founded the publishing house Reijger Uitgewers in 1970, was responsible for the wine column in Die Burger, became seriously involved with philately (he edited the South African Philatelist from 1989 till his death) and was an avid sailor.

In 1992 he shifted back to journalism, becoming a full-time member of the arts section, writing a column and editing the book reviews. In 1996 he became the full-time arts editor of Die Burger.

He also wrote and co-wrote a number of works on his other interests, notably historical works on the country, its cities, philately and sailing.

He married the writer and poet Petra Müller (1935–2021)[1] in 1958, and the couple had three sons, Anton, Herman and Philip. He died of cancer in Cape Town on 13 June 2001.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Throughout his life he was most active and influential in a range of arts field.

As reviewer and arts editor

As journalist he wrote reviews, articles and columns in a range of publications over the years, including Dagbreek en Sondagnuus, The Cape Argus and most notably Die Burger, and anchored a number of radio programmes over the years, including Arts review, Bookshelf, Kunskroniek, In die voorportaal and Skrywers en boeke.

As an amateur actor

As playwright and translator

He wrote a few one-act plays, including Die Eerste Oogopslag ("at first glance").

In addition to his own plays, he translated a number of German plays and English plays into Afrikaans for CAPAB and PACT, among them Maria Stuart (Schiller), Die vader ("The Father" by Strindberg), Die gebreekte kruik (Von Kleist), The imaginary invalid, or, The hypochondriac (Molière) and The love potion (Wedekind). Most of the texts were published by Dalro.

He translated and adapted a number of radio dramas for the SABC and translated works of fiction and non-fiction for a range of publishers over the years.

He co-authored the screenplay for Die Vervlakste Tweeling with Hannes Horne and Mario Schiess.

As theatre historian

Based on his publicity background and his knowledge of the performing arts, he was commissioned to write a history of the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB), but the history he produced was deemed too critical for the then administration, and it was never published. A draft copy is apparently held at the library of the University of Stellenbosch.